Raw was hurt by a poor showing in the third hour, leading to the show’s lowest 18-49 audience since the 4th of July holiday episode.
The October 3rd edition of Raw from St. Paul averaged 1,599,000 viewers and approximately 526,000 (0.40) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
It was the show’s lowest 18-49 audience since July 4th and the fourth lowest demo audience of the year (excluding two episodes that aired on Syfy, although one of the Syfy episodes from February topped this week’s 18-49 audience).
Raw’s overall viewership dropped 4.5% from last week with the 18-49 audience declining by 10%. In the key demo, female viewership was down 18% and males saw a 5% fall.
Adults 18-34 decreased by 12% and 35-49 were down by 9%. Adults 50+ were flat week over week.
Raw began with 1,701,000 viewers and 0.43 in the 18-49 demographic and was the least-watched opening hour of Raw since May 30th on Memorial Day.
In the second hour, the show averaged 1,683,000 viewers and the demo stayed at 0.43.
The steep decline was in hour three falling to 1,413,000 viewers and 0.40 in the demo.
From hour one to hour three, viewership dropped by 17%, 18-49 fell by 19% and the most significant losses were reserved for males 12-34 by 34.5% and adults 18-34 tuning out by 29% throughout the episode.
The final hour of the show included matches between Angelo Dawkins and Solo Sikoa, an unannounced promo by Edge, and the main event between IYO SKY and Alexa Bliss with both matches set up throughout the show and not advertised in advance.
Raw ranked seventh among cable originals, which was dominated by the L.A. Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers game that averaged 10,863,000 viewers and 3.26 in 18-49 with the Manning Cast version averaging 1,633,000 and 0.64 in the demo on ESPN 2. The game was not simulcast on ABC.
In Canada, Raw averaged 121,300 viewers and 67,400 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which were declines of 20% and 12% respectively from last week. It’s a shockingly low number for Raw in Canada and excluding the episodes that aired on OLN earlier this year, would be the lowest of the year for Raw in Canada. There was a lot of sports competition, led by the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles (with the Jays entering the playoffs, baseball numbers are going to be gigantic), plus the Monday Night Football game and two NHL pre-season games including the Toronto Maple Leafs playing Montreal. Raw ranked ninth among sports programming for the night.
