Photo courtesy: WWE
Monday’s episode of Raw was built around the idea that Brock Lesnar would cash-in his Money in the Bank briefcase, which ultimately didn’t occur.
The abnormal viewership pattern reflected a heightened interest in Lesnar’s cash-in with the second-hour cash-in tease outdrawing the first and third hours of the show. In a rarity, the first hour was least watched hour, narrowly edged out by the third hours 41,000 extra viewers.
The three-hour show averaged 2,405,000 viewers, an increase of 10% from the week prior. The first hour attracted an average viewership of 2.308 million, then increased 11% in the second hour to 2.558 million, and fell 8% in the last hour, which featured The Undertaker’s promo at the end. While an increase from last week’s number, it still fell under 2.5 million viewers, which was a mark they hit on May 20th going against the NBA playoffs.
Despite advertising the Lesnar cash-in for the third consecutive week, it hooked people to stay tuned through the first two hours before the decline in the final hour after the angle where Lesnar said he would cash-in on Friday’s Super Showdown event, instead.
There was no competition from the NBA on Monday, although Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final averaged 5,128,000 viewers on NBC.
Next week’s episode will go against Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors.
