Airing against the NBA Finals, Friday Night SmackDown held steady with a minor drop in its key demographic audience.
The June 10th edition of the show from Baton Rouge averaged 1,914,000 viewers and approximately 574,000 (0.44) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
WWE Smackdown, Friday on Fox (8-10pm):
1,914,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.44AEW Rampage on TNT (10-11pm):
476,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.16
📊 https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/JnuURzKHWu— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) June 13, 2022
The second hour of SmackDown aired against the NBA Finals between Golden State and Boston, which averaged 12,063,000 viewers and a 3.63 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 2.84 in 18-34. This led to ABC winning the night including its pre-game coverage and a special edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live at 8 p.m. ET.
Outside of ABC, SmackDown was the top-rated network program in the key demographic.
Compared with the previous week, SmackDown fell six percent in the 18-49 demo while increasing four percent in 18-34 and declining by 11 percent among adults 35-49. In overall viewers, they were nearly flat with a one percent decline. Last week’s show only aired against the NHL playoffs without NBA competition, so that should be considered a positive this week that they weren’t hurt nearly as bad as expected.
Friday’s edition of SmackDown included the main event between Riddle and Sami Zayn to set up Riddle challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed Universal Championship this week, a match involving Ronda Rousey, and two Money in the Bank qualifying matches.
This Friday’s show will feature a rare title defense by Reigns and his first match on SmackDown this year.
