Friday Night SmackDown saw a decrease in its audience airing against the NBA and a portion of Rampage.
The April 14th episode from Lincoln, Nebraska, averaged 2,265,000 viewers and approximately 757,000 (0.58) in the 18-49 demographic, which was still first among all network programming. (Showbuzz Daily and Wrestlenomics)
It was an eight percent drop in viewership and SmackDown’s lowest since March 17, while the 18-49 audience fell by 16 percent and its lowest mark since February 17.
Despite the drop, SmackDown topped everything on television Friday night – except the two NBA play-in games. SmackDown aired against the Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat (2.23 million viewers and 0.76 in the demo) and the first fifteen minutes of Oklahoma City vs. Minnesota (2.51 million and 0.95) on TNT and ESPN respectively.
Due to the Chicago vs. Miami game ending when it did, it was a rare instance of SmackDown and Rampage airing head-to-head for eighteen minutes beginning at 9:42 p.m. ET.
In Canada, SmackDown fell back to Earth after months of high viewership. The show dropped to 147,600 viewers and 61,500 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. It was the lowest viewership of the year for SmackDown in Canada and dropped 42 percent in viewers from the previous week. One of the main culprits is the return of the Toronto Blue Jays, who played on Friday and averaged over one million viewers.
SmackDown was headlined by Matt Riddle taking on Solo Sikoa, which was announced during the first segment of the show.
