Going against a big Monday Night Football game and the NHL playoffs, WWE Raw posted its best viewership since last month.
The show averaged 1,822,000 viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic placing Raw fourth amongst cable programs Monday. The viewership and demo numbers were up and 9 percent and 10 percent respectively from last week’s episode. It was Raw’s best viewership and demo rating since August 31st and third-highest demo number since May.
The NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens topped the cable charts with 14,019,000 viewers and a massive 4.60 demo rating on ESPN.
In Canada, Raw did 185,900 viewers and 98,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which was the fourth most-watched sports broadcast Monday night. A replay of the WWE Ruthless Aggression documentary series did 70,300 viewers immediately following Raw. The Stanley Cup Final between Tampa Bay and Dallas was the most-watched sports broadcast of the night in the country.
Raw began with 1,956,000 viewers in the first hour featuring Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Christian & Big Show in the opening segment. In the second hour, the show dropped 7 percent to 1,824,000 viewers and the third hour dropped by another 7.5 percent to 1,687,000 viewers. From hour one to hour three, the decline was 13.75 percent.
All of Raw’s key demos saw healthy increases this week led by women 12-34 improving by 19 percent, adults 18-34 were up 17 percent, and women 18-49 increased by 13 percent.
The biggest losses from the first to the third hour were among females 18-49 and adults over 50 each falling by 15 percent. The males 12-34 audience dipped in hour two and then returned in hour three, so there was no loss.
Overall, this must be viewed very strongly going against such a big NFL game. Several factors can be analyzed from Clash of Champions fallout – although there was nothing significant on the Raw side, to the late promotion of the legends appearing, and the tease of a surprise opponent for Drew McIntyre that turned out to be Robert Roode.
Here is a breakdown of the demos:
Source: Showbuzz Daily
ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.55 (+10 percent)
Hour 1-3: -10 percent
FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.44 (+13 percent)
Hour 1-3: -15 percent
MALES 18-49
This week: 0.66 (+10 percent)
Hour 1-3: -7 percent
ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.34 (+17 percent)
Hour 1-3: -6 percent
FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.25 (+19 percent)
Hour 1-3: -15 percent
MALES 12-34
This week: 0.33 (+10 percent)
Hour 1-3: Even
ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.65 (+8 percent)
Hour 1-3: -13 percent
ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.88 (+10 percent)
Hour 1-3: -15 percent
