Tony Khan delivers an interesting statistic regarding the AEW product and its fanbase.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan recently took part in an All Out Media Call. Khan was asked by WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about the positive fan reception throughout Wednesday. This started with Swerve Strickland’s video on social media, which fed into the ending of last night’s AEW Dynamite. Khan had a lot to say about how the wrestling fanbase has changed for the better in recent years.
“Well, it’s a great question, great points,” Tony Khan began. “I think the response to the conclusion of AEW Dynamite with Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland to set up their lights out steel cage match this Saturday, just 48 hours from now, at AEW All Out has been overwhelmingly positive. I think we’ve had just a fantastic response from the fans who thought this was a great ending to the show.
“If we were in another line of work, people would be shocked by this, but in wrestling, I think people saw it coming in some way and still were blown away by it truly, and it was something that made a lot of sense, and it was one of those great wrestling ideas and one of those great wrestling moments.
The avidity of fans is at an all-time high
Khan highlighted how the way people watch wrestling has changed over several years, and he appreciates the fans’ eagerness to consume more content.
“It’s a massive percentage of the audience now that follows these things, compared to when I was a kid. And it was, frankly, more of a niche interest. There was huge mainstream interest in wrestling that would go up and down cyclically based on what was happening in the business, but I think in terms of what we have now, it’s a boom time in wrestling. This is a golden age for the sport,” he said. “In so many ways this is a great time to be in wrestling. And AEW is a huge part of the wrestling conversation happening today in September 2024 it’s an awesome thing.
“When you look at that historically, I think the avidity of wrestling fans is at an all-time high. I’ve gotten some statistics that I am really impressed by. As I’ve gotten into this media rights deal, I’ve learned things about AEW that even I didn’t know that are so impressive. Insights that really rocked me and to watch wrestling fandom change and see how big AEW is a part of it,” Khan continued.
‘It shows up in the metrics’
Khan said it’s great to see people service their fandom and eagerness, and it’s also really important “to take care of the fans that take care of us.”
“Did you know that of all of the world’s sports leagues, the league whose fans spend the most money per month on streaming video of every sports league out there, the league whose fan spends on average, the most per month on streaming video? It’s AEW. It’s ahead of every other sporting league in the world.
“I’ve never said AEW is the biggest sporting league in the world, but we are a big sports league now. We have a lot of fans, and we also have the greatest avidity of fans of any league in the world, and it continues to show itself up,” Khan said. “It shows up in the metrics, and it shows up in intangible ways too.”
‘In wrestling, that’s a good thing.’
Khan said he didn’t “check the decibel meter every five seconds” at Wembley Stadium. However, seeing (and hearing) all of those great moments was rewarding.
“And think right now when you see that the fans are following along. You have fans that want to know what’s coming next, and they’ll even look online. They’ll check social media, they’ll Google it. They’ll look to news sources to find out what’s going to happen next in AEW. And in wrestling, that’s a good thing. So I look at our fan avidity as a really positive point for AEW.”
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What do you make of Tony Khan’s comments? Do you enjoy Wednesday night’s storyline between Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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