Friday Night SmackDown finished first for the night on a night that heavily focused on news programming.
The February 25th edition of the show from Hershey averaged 2,114,000 viewers and approximately 744,000 (0.57) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
It was SmackDown’s highest 18-49 audience since January 21st and third highest figure of the year, although it was also SmackDown’s lowest overall viewership since Christmas Eve.
Compared with last week’s taped edition of the show, the live version saw a 5.5 percent increase in the 18-49 demo while the overall viewership dropped by 3 percent.
SmackDown experienced an eight percent growth among males 18-49 and six percent with adults 18-34.
The show ranked first among all network programs in 18-49 and 18-34 with ABC’s Shark Tank finishing second.
The cable ratings were dominated by news programming covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the L.A. Lakers vs. L.A. Clippers, which finished first with 1,384,000 viewers and 0.50 in 18-49 on ESPN.
In Canada, SmackDown averaged 153,000 viewers and 52,400 in the 25-54 demographic compared to 147,100 and 63,300 respectively last week. SmackDown was third in overall viewers among sports programming behind the Winnipeg Jets vs. Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Raptors vs. Charlotte Hornets.
This week’s edition of SmackDown from Miami is advertising two title matches and Ronda Rousey wrestling on SmackDown for the first time since her return at the Royal Rumble last month.
