Friday Night SmackDown was preempted in several markets by the NFL but finished first on television.
The show from August 19th averaged 2,084,000 viewers and approximately 613,000 (0.47) in the 18-49 demographic, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
SmackDown grew its overall viewership by eight percent while the 18-49 audience was up by six percent over last week’s numbers, which were also impacted by pre-emptions.
SmackDown saw a 19 percent spike among adults 18-34 and adults 35-49 grew by three percent.
Thurston noted that Friday’s show saw SmackDown preempted in about five percent of homes due to the NFL. The week prior saw the show preempted in approximately 12 percent of homes.
SmackDown aired against New England vs. Carolina on the NFL Network that finished first on cable with 0.25 in 18-49 and 985,000 viewers.
While the numbers were above the August 12th episode, this past episode was lower than the episodes that aired on July 22, July 29 & August 5.
SmackDown did a huge number in Canada averaging 219,300 viewers and 170,500 in the 25-54 demographic and aired against the World Juniors and a Toronto Blue Jays game, so that’s an impressive number to pull in the country with that level of sports competition.
The show was advertised around a face-to-face confrontation between Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre and a fatal five-way match to determine the next challenger for Gunther.
