Friday Night SmackDown finished #1 among all network programs this past week for the go-home episode prior to Extreme Rules.
The September 24th show from Philadelphia averaged 2,135,000 viewers and 713,000 (0.55) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
It was a decrease of 5 percent in overall viewers and 5.7 percent in the 18-49 demo from the previous week’s episode.
While it was the lowest viewership since the August 21st episode going into SummerSlam weekend, the 18-49 number fell to its lowest mark since July 23rd, which was the episode that included matches from the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami and an appearance by John Cena after the Money in the Bank card.
SmackDown was the top network program in the U.S. beating out CBS’ Big Brother and NBC’s Dateline. SmackDown was also #1 among adults 18-34.
In Canada, SmackDown averaged 137,000 viewers and 57,000 in the 25-54 demographic. SmackDown faced sports competition from the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Minnesota Twins and CFL game between the Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Alouettes. On the sports chart, SmackDown finished seventh among total viewers and was fourth among 25-54.
This week’s episode of SmackDown will feature the first night of the WWE Draft with Edge among those advertised to appear.
