Jim Ross comments on the importance of the 18-49 'demo'

AEW lead commentator, Jim Ross, opened up about the ratings war between AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT on Wednesday nights, known as the "Wednesday Night Wars." AEW Dynamite regularly draws more total viewers and viewers in the18 to 49 demographic than their rivals WWE NXT.

On the occasions when WWE NXT draws more total viewers than AEW Dynamite, officials at All Elite Wrestling are quick to stress that the viewers in the 18 to 49 demographic are the only number that truly matters.

This is because the viewership in the 18 to 49 demographic is the number that most television executives and advertisers care the most about. A high rating in the 18 to 49 demographic will place the show higher in the top 50 original cable shows.

Jim Ross recently expanded on this topic during an episode of his Grilling JR podcast, explaining why the 18 to 49 demographic was so important:

"That's what the advertisers are buying, they're not looking at the total audience, they're not looking at 50+ [demographic] unless you're selling Geritol or something... The 18-49 [demographic] is the money that's where you're shopping." (h/t Wrestling Inc.)

Thank you everyone who watched #AEWDynamite last night! Thanks to you we were top 5 in the 18-49 demo again + our biggest overall audience since pre-pandemic! With Fulham winning the Play-Offs & back in the Premier League + this Dynamite rating, it’s the best week I’ve ever had.

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) August 6, 2020

Jim Ross on wrestling vignettes

In addition to discussing the ratings war between AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT on Wednesday nights, Jim Ross also spoke about the lost art of vignettes in professional wrestling.

Vignettes were used regularly in the 1980s and 1990s when a new character was about to debut with a wrestling company. However, vignettes to promote a new character in professional wrestling aren't used as regularly nowadays.

Jim Ross suggested that the lack of vignettes in wrestling today is a huge missed opportunity in the professional wrestling business.

"I think that's a big missed opportunity in the business now. I am a firm believer that creatively produced, episodic vignettes do more to get a talent over than just having a cold match on TV. I truly believe that. I believe that a company can commit to getting talents over if they have a systematic program that has a beginning, middle, and an end, and when you get to the end of the vignettes, you preconditioned the audience for this individual. And he/she steps right in their first storyline." (h/t Wrestling Inc.)

AEW 0.32 in 18-49 versus 0.16 for NXT, so AEW doubled them in the prime demo.

— Bryan Alvarez (@bryanalvarez) August 13, 2020

What is your favourite professional wrestling vignette of all time?