Friday Night SmackDown returned to FOX after one-week on FS1 resulting in the episode’s largest audience since early September.
According to Showbuzz Daily, Friday’s episode following the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view averaged 2,286,000 viewers on FOX and a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
The show improved 7.5 percent from their last episode on Fox, which occurred on October 16th. Last week’s episode on FS1 averaged 881,000 viewers going against the World Series.
SmackDown was equal with ABC’s Shark Tank in the 18-49 demographic and was SmackDown’s highest number in the demo since March 27th. The show also finished #1 in the 18-34 demo with a 0.4 rating among all network shows.
In Canada, WWE occupied three of the top four spots among sports broadcasts. SmackDown was #1 with 160,400 viewers and 82,800 in the 25-54 demographic. The one-hour version of NXT airing at 7 pm Eastern was #3 with 61,500 (34,900 in the demo), and WWE Main Event at 10 pm immediately after SmackDown averaged 59,600 (32,400).
Throughout the week, the show was advertised around the fallout of Jey Uso’s loss to cousin Roman Reigns at Hell in a Cell, and Sasha Banks winning the SmackDown women’s title at the pay-per-view. This coming Friday will feature a rematch between Banks and Bayley for the title.
