WWE Raw was granted a reprieve with both the NBA & NHL having no games scheduled on Monday, clearing the way for Raw to top the cable rankings for the evening.
The May 16th edition of the show from Norfolk averaged 1,736,000 viewers with approximately 587,000 (0.45) in the 18-49 demographic, as reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
WWE Raw last night on USA Network:
1,736,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.45 (587,000)Highest in both in about 1 month.
📊 https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/heRKReYYj8— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) May 17, 2022
The lack of playoff competition resulted in a five percent viewership increase while the key demo moved up by a modest two percent.
Raw ranked first among cable originals by a significant margin, topping Bravo’s Below Deck Sailing Yacht at 0.33 and AMC’s Better Call Saul at 0.28.
It was Raw’s highest viewership since April 11th and the best 18-49 figures since April 18th.
The show began with 1,749,000 and 0.44 in 18-49 for the first hour including the Steel Cage match between Omos and Bobby Lashley that was promoted throughout the week.
The second hour was the highest of the three with 1,816,000 viewers and 0.46 in 18-49. The second hour coincided with the news circulating of Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out of the show, which was mentioned on the program.
The final hour fell in viewership to 1,646,000 while the 18-49 rating was flat at 0.46.
Throughout the show, viewership dropped by six percent while the 18-49 demo grew by 4.5 percent.
From start-to-finish, females 12-34 grew by 23.5 percent, females 18-49 increased by 14 percent, and adults 18-34 rose 15 percent throughout the show. The only demo that declined throughout Raw was adults 50+, which dropped by seven percent.
For the second week in a row, the third hour of Raw topped the opening sixty minutes of the show in the 18-49 demo – coinciding with a show-long promotional push for the 10 p.m. ET hour featuring Cody Rhodes. The show concluded with the match between Becky Lynch and Asuka.
The lack of NBA and NHL competition saw a 13 percent increase among males 18-49 while females in the demo declined by 12 percent from last week.
Males 12-34 grew by 15 percent while the 50+ demo moved from 0.84 to 0.91 this week.
In Canada, Raw aired on its regular network and averaged 207,300 viewers with 87,300 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. Those numbers represent increases of 18 and 12 percent respectively.
