Against large NFL audience, WWE Raw hits highest viewership since October

Photo Courtesy: WWE

Monday’s episode of Raw saw the program achieve its largest audience since October while airing against a big NFL game.

The December 19th edition of the show from Des Moines averaged 1,705,000 viewers and approximately 557,000 (0.43) in the 18-49 demographic with data from Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.

Raw’s overall viewership grew 16% this week and was the show’s largest audience since October 17th. The 18-49 audience was up by 14% with its highest mark since November 14th.

Raw ran against the Green Bay Packers vs. L.A. Rams game that aired on ABC, ESPN & ESPN 2 with a combined viewership of more than sixteen million.

Raw kicked off with its first hour averaging 1,781,000 viewers and 0.44 in the 18-49 demographic, which was up 20% in viewers from last week’s all-time low for the first hour of Raw.

In the second hour, Raw stayed consistent with 1,767,000 viewers and flat in the demo rating.

The final hour saw a drop to 1,568,000 viewers and 0.40 in the demo with the main event seeing The Usos losing to Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins, which was set up earlier in the evening. It was Raw’s strongest third-hour viewership since October 17th.

Raw was up in all the key demos from last week including a 21% spike among females 18-49 and a 30% increase among females 12-34.  

The audience grew 21% among adults 18-34 and was up 10.5% with adults 35-49.

Throughout the three hours, the overall decline was 12% while the demo fell 9%. The 18-34 audience stuck around for most of the show and only fell 3% throughout the program.

In Canada, Raw averaged 210,400 viewers and 94,200 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which ranked fifth among sports programs on Monday. The audience was down 8% while the 25-54 demo fell by 12% from last week’s numbers on the network.

Next week’s edition of Raw is a special “best of” show with the next live episode set for January 2nd with two title matches being advertised in Nashville, Tennessee.

Here is a breakdown of the key demos (Courtesy: Showbuzz Daily & Wrestlenomics):

ADULTS 18-49

This week: 0.43 (+14%)
Last week: 0.37
Hour 1-3: -9%

MALES 18-49

This week: 0.54 (+12.5%)
Last week: 0.48
Hour 1-3: -9%

FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.24 (+21%)
Last week: 0.26
Hour 1-3: -9%

ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.30 (+21%)
Last week: 0.25
Hour 1-3: -3%

MALES 12-34
This week: 0.30 (+20%)
Last week: 0.25
Hour 1-3: –

FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.22 (+30%)
Last week: 0.17
Hour 1-3: -13%

ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.62
Last week: 0.52
Hour 1-3: -15%

ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.89 (+14%)
Last week: 0.78
Hour 1-3: -13%

About John Pollock 5839 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.