WWE Raw saw a strong increase in its second and final week airing on Syfy due to USA Network’s coverage of the Winter Olympics.
The February 14th edition of the show from Indianapolis, Indiana averaged 1,602,000 viewers and approximately 574,000 (0.44) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
The viewership increase from last week’s episode on Syfy was 15.5 percent while the demo number was up by 22 percent.
One of the major factors was a stronger opening hour for Raw, which averaged 1,694,000 viewers and 0.46 in the 18-49 demographic. Last week’s episode was hurt by the opening quarter where, presumably, people were finding the show when they realized it was on a different network.
Like last week, the first sixty minutes of Raw aired commercial-free and still led to growth in the second hour with 1,709,000 viewers and 0.47 in 18-49.
The third hour had the usual decline with viewership falling to 1,402,000 and 0.39 in the 18-49 demo.
Raw was still the #1 show among cable originals and was well above USA Network’s coverage of the Olympics, which averaged 1,069,000 viewers and 0.21 in the demo. USA Network’s coverage of the Olympics fell 48 percent in viewership compared to last Monday with the 18-49 demo dropping from 0.40 to 0.21.
The NBC coverage of the Olympics did 7,874,000 and 1.47 in 18-49 this week with viewership dropping by seven percent and the demo down from 1.59 to 1.47 from last Monday.
This week’s episode topped the January 10th and January 17th editions of the show among the 18-49 demo. Those episodes of Raw last month went against the College Football Championship game and the NFL Wild Card game.
In Showbuzz Daily’s demo ratings, they displayed notable increases from last week’s show led by adults 25-54 (0.46 to 0.59), males 18-49 (0.43 to 0.54), and females 12-34 (0.19 to 0.24).
Viewership throughout the dropped by 17 percent while the 18-49 audience declined by 15 percent from hour one to hour three. The largest decline was among males 18-49 that fell 22 percent throughout the show while the females 18-49 held up strongest with a loss of six percent over the three-hour show.
In Canada, Raw averaged 195,100 viewers and 91,500 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which represent increases of 17 and 26 percent respectively from last week.
Next week, Raw returns to the USA Network following the Elimination Chamber event that takes place this Saturday from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Winter Olympics wrap up this Sunday and won’t be a factor next week.
