WWE Raw finished second among cable originals on Monday and posted a four-week high in the key demographic.
The March 20th episode from St. Louis averaged 1,771,000 viewers and approximately 722,000 (0.55) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
The show saw a four percent increase in overall viewership and the same uptick in the 18-49 demo. It was Raw’s highest 18-49 audience since February 20 coming off the Elimination Chamber event and outperformed the show from two weeks ago that featured John Cena’s return, although that episode had a larger overall viewership.
Raw opened with 1,778,000 viewers and 0.55 in the 18-49 demo, which included Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn opening the program and setting up their WrestleMania match against The Usos. In the second hour, the show grew to 1,807,000 viewers and 0.57 in the demo while the third hour didn’t experience a large decline with 1,729,000 viewers and 0.54 in the demo.
The show ended with Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes having their in-ring segment to promote their match at WrestleMania.
Throughout the three hours, the audience only fell by three percent and dropped by two percent in the key demo, which is very low in comparison to the standard declines throughout the show.
In the 18-49 demo, male viewership grew five percent and women were equal to last week’s episode. Adults 18-34 grew seven percent this week, adults 35-49 were up by one percent, and adults 50+ increased by five percent.
Raw was second among cable programs on Monday behind the big World Baseball Classic game between Japan and Mexico averaging 1,885,000 viewers and 0.68 on FS 1 and 664,000 and 0.27 on Fox Deportes. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament didn’t have any games on Monday night, but there were three women’s games airing throughout the evening on ESPN & ESPN 2.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw did a massive number in Canada with approximately 408,300 viewers and 201,400 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which would be the largest audience in Canada in years and the highest of the data we have. The numbers were up by 14 and 28 percent respectively from last week. Raw and SmackDown numbers have been on fire in Canada going into WrestleMania this year.
Raw was the top-ranked sports program in Canada on Monday topping two NHL games, women’s Curling, the World Baseball Classic, and an afternoon pre-season game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers.
This past Sunday’s WWE block on A&E saw the Legends Biography on Jerry Lawler average 350,000 viewers and 143,000 (0.11) in the demo followed by the one-hour documentary on Paige doing 297,000 and 130,000 (0.10). It compares with last week’s two-hour program on Glenn Jacobs averaging 383,000 and 170,000 (0.13) making this week’s episodes the lowest of the current season.
The WWE Rivals episode on Lita vs. Trish Stratus averaged 271,000 viewers and 143,000 (0.11) in the demo. It was the lowest viewership of the season for Rivals and the second-lowest in 18-49, topping last week’s demo audience for Triple H vs. Batista.
The A&E block this Sunday will feature one-hour episodes on Charlotte Flair and Yokozuna followed by a new episode of Rival profiling Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar.
