WWE experimented with a show-long story of The Miz continually avoiding his match with Bobby Lashley to keep viewers hooked for the full episode.
The results appeared to be a success with far less erosion in the final hour, which culminated with Bobby Lashley defeating The Miz for the WWE Championship.
The show averaged 1,884,000 viewers and a 0.58 in the 18-49 demographic, finishing first on cable Monday. Those numbers alone don’t stand out in any major way, but a breakdown of the demos gives a better picture of how the show performed.
The show struck a chord with women 12-34, which hit a 0.30, its highest rating in that demo since April 6, 2020, on the night after WrestleMania 36. They also performed well with adults 18-34, hitting its best figure since Legends Night on January 4th this year.
The first two hours were consistent with hour one averaging 1,916,000 viewers and a 0.58 in the 18-49 demo, hour two saw 1,918,000 viewers and a jump to a 0.60 in the key demo. In hour three, the show fell to 1,817,000 viewers and a 0.57 in the demo. The loss of viewership in hour three was only 5 percent, well below normal declines, and fell 1.7 percent in the key demo.
Females 12-34 were up by 67 percent this week but fell 16 percent throughout the show, adults 18-34 rose by 50 percent and gained 3 percent throughout the program. The only other significant loss in the third hour was among women 18-49 that fell 15.5 percent with the other key demos falling less than 5.5 percent in the third hour.
Raw was criticized for the constant prolonging of the advertised championship match with several countdowns to the match, but it appeared to keep viewers more engaged than most weeks and you did receive a payoff for sticking around as you saw the title change. If there is any conclusion, it’s the likelihood of seeing more stories woven throughout the entire episode with the key players involved in several segments throughout the show rather than introduced in the opening segment and paying off the match in the final quarter.
The show also had the benefit of advertising a rare championship match on Raw throughout the week with a believable challenger where fans could reasonably expect to see a title change, and they did.
For the month of February, Raw averaged 1,827,000 viewers and a 0.55 in the 18-49 demo (which was dragged down by an abnormally low 0.49 they averaged on February 8th). So, this week’s episode outdid last month’s average by a small amount.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos from Monday and start-to-end performances:
ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.58 (+2 percent)
Hour 1-3: -1.7 percent
FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.42 (+13.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: -15.5 percent
MALES 18-49
This week: 0.74 (-2.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: +7 percent
ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.39 (+50 percent)
Hour 1-3: +3 percent
FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.30 (+67 percent)
Hour 1-3: -16 percent
MALES 12-34
This week: 0.39 (+11 percent)
Hour 1-3: +8 percent
ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.72 (+7.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: +1 percent
ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.88 (Even)
Hour 1-3: -5.5 percent
