Monday Night Raw continued the trend of professional sports taking a chunk out of the wrestling audience as the show fell to a three-month low.
The October 11th edition of Raw averaged 1,582,000 viewers and 543,000 (0.42) in the 18-49 demographic, according to Showbuzz Daily and Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.
Raw was up against the Monday Night Football game between Indianapolis and Baltimore that averaged 11,333,000 and 3.449 in the 18-49 demographic to top Monday’s cable figures. There were also two MLB playoff games with the San Francisco Giants vs. L.A. Dodgers beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET and averaged 3,553,000 and 0.92 in 18-49 while the Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays game began at 7 p.m. and averaged 3,299,000 and 0.77.
The show fell 15 percent in viewers from the week prior and 18-49 dropped by 20 percent with the heavier sports competition and finished seventh among cable programs on Monday evening.
This would be Raw’s lowest audience and 18-49 number since July 5th, which was when the show was still being broadcast from the ThunderDome and was the company’s lowest number of 2021.
A major loss this week was seen among males 18-49 that fell 25 percent from last week while adults 25-54 dropped by 20 percent. Females 12-34 grew 20 percent and adults 18-34 were up by 8 percent, so not all audiences were down this week. Brandon Thurston noted that adults 35-49 were down by 29 percent this week with males in that demo dropping from 334,000 to 238,000 this week.
Raw started off poorly with 1,588,000 viewers and 0.39 in 18-49, so the first hour was the lowest of the three but grew throughout the episode. The second hour increased to 1,641,000 and 0.44 for the peak viewing hour before falling to 1,516,000 but 18-49 was 0.42.
From the first to the third hour, viewership fell 4.5 percent, but the demo grew by 8 percent. Adults 18-34 and men 18-49 grew 13 percent throughout the show.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos on Showbuzz Daily, how they fluctuated throughout the show, and a comparison with last week:
ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.42 (-19 percent)
Hour 1-3: +8 percent
FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.33 (-13 percent)
Hour 1-3: -6 percent
MALES 18-49
This week: 0.50 (-25 percent)
Hour 1-3: +13 percent
ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.26 (+8 percent)
Hour 1-3: +13 percent
FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.24 (+20 percent)
Hours 1-3: +4.5 percent
MALES 12-34
This week: 0.20 (-13 percent)
Hours 1-3: +11 percent
ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.20 (-20 percent)
Hours 1-3: -2 percent
ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.83 (-13 percent)
Hours 1-3: -8 percent
