Built around the announcement that Logan Paul was issuing a challenge to Roman Reigns, Friday Night SmackDown ranked second among network programs.
The September 16th edition from Anaheim averaged 2,212,000 viewers and approximately 652,000 (0.50) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
Coming off last week’s high viewership, SmackDown fell by 6.5% in overall viewership and dropped 12% in the demo. However, it was still the show’s second-largest viewership since July 22nd the day that Vince McMahon resigned, and was their second-largest 18-49 audience since July 29th.
For Friday, SmackDown was the top program among network programming and second on all of television behind ESPN’s coverage of the college football game between Florida State and Louisville.
SmackDown dropped 17% in the 18-34 demographic and declined by 9% among adults 35-49 from last week’s show.
In Canada, SmackDown averaged 181,000 viewers and 80,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360 – its largest overall audience since August 19th. For the night, SmackDown was fourth among sports programming behind the CFL game between Edmonton and Saskatchewan, the late edition of SportsCentre, and the MLB game between Texas and Tampa. In the 25-54 demo, SmackDown ranked second behind the CFL.
WWE Main Event, which aired immediately after SmackDown on Sportsnet 360, averaged 67,600 viewers and 16,500 in 25-54 and finished ninth among sports programming that night.
