Inconsistent Lucha Underground Rating and Viewership Numbers Surface

News, Ratings

lu s2e1 screenie 1

Two different sources are reporting different viewership numbers for the Season 2 premiere of Lucha Underground that aired this past Wednesday.  While Pro Wrestling Torch reports the initial 109,000 viewers figure, Showbuzz Daily recently updated their figures for original cable premieres to include Lucha Underground.  SBD’s numbers were around 44,000, presumably for the initial premiere and not the replay.

James Caldwell, the PW Torch contributor who provided the numbers, claims that their numbers for Lucha Underground, as well as for other cable wrestling shows such as WWE’s Monday Night Raw and TNA’s Impact Wrestling, come from a “standard rating source” that they use for all of their viewership reports.  This source is not Showbuzz.

Showbuzz, however, is run by two entertainment executives and receive their numbers from several sources.  Here is some information provided by Showbuzz on the “basics” when it comes to collecting and evaluating broadcast television ratings.

Showbuzz also commented that El Rey Network is a smaller network and ratings are not necessarily readily available, which makes sense.  Their figure for the Season 2 premiere is also consistent with this, considering El Rey still isn’t accessible to many households (though El Rey is certainly making an effort to change that, as the channel is available through at least thirteen US providers

A dedicated wrestling fan on Reddit’s Squared Circle posted some viewership numbers this past summer.  The numbers span over the course of 13 weeks, and include some outliers, such as the February 18th episode.  These numbers (and probably Showbuzz and PWT’s numbers) don’t include UniMas, a Spanish television network.

But there’s definitely quite a difference between the two numbers for the initial premiere.  Can we get an El Rey executive on the phone?

Kate witnessed the Litasault and has been hooked on wrestling ever since. She covers lucha libre and the independent circuit. She holds a B.A. from University of Maine at Machias in English, Art, and Communications, and assists at an indie publishing house in Maine.