WWE Raw maintained steady viewership against the opening round of the NBA playoffs.
The April 17th edition from North Little Rock averaged 1,815,000 viewers and approximately 752,000 (0.58) in the 18-49 demographic. (Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily).
Raw ranked fourth among cable originals on Monday behind the NBA, which had back-to-back games airing on TNT. The NHL playoffs kicked off on Monday with three games airing on ESPN & ESPN 2, which WWE topped in this week’s cable rankings.
The Brooklyn Nets vs. Philadelphia 76ers averaged 3,004,000 viewers and 1.08 in the 18-49 demo and aired against the first two hours of Raw. The final hour of Raw aired against the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, which topped all of television with 4,322,000 and 1.54 in the demo.
The show was virtually identical in viewership from last week while the 18-49 demo also dropped by four percent. In the key demo, female viewership increased by three percent while males dropped by 7 percent from last week.
Raw opened with 1,945,000 viewers and 0.58 in the 18-49 demographic, which was a much better opening hour than last week. Besides the Raw After Mania, this was the most-watched opening hour of Raw since February 20.
In the second hour, Raw averaged 1,919,000 viewers and 0.60 in the 18-49 demographic.
There was a big decrease in the final hour of Raw with 1,582,000 viewers and 0.52 in the demo.
Throughout the three-hour show, Raw dropped 19 percent in viewers and 15 percent among the 18-49 audience. The female audience saw a major decline throughout the show with women 18-49 dropping by 28 percent and 12-34s declining by 33 percent. The strongest retention was among males 18-49, which experienced a seven percent decline from the first to final hours.
Due to the NHL playoffs, WWE Raw aired on the smaller OLN in Canada (instead of Sportsnet 360) and averaged approximately 123,000 viewers and 46,000 in the 25-54 demographic. While it didn’t rank among the top ten sports programs, it is a very good number considering the size of the station they were on and airing against the NHL playoffs, which are much bigger in Canada than in the U.S.
The last time Raw aired on OLN in Canada was on October 24, 2022, and it only averaged 66,000 viewers and 34,000 in the demo.
The final Legends’ Biography for this season covering the Iron Sheik averaged 452,000 viewers and 183,000 (0.14) in the 18-49 demographic, which ranked #21 among cable originals on Sunday. It was identical in the demo to last week’s episode on Dusty Rhodes. In total viewership, the Iron Sheik doc ranked behind the N.W.O., Chyna, Jake Roberts, and Dusty Rhodes.
WWE Rivals covering Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper averaged 357,000 viewers and 143,000 (0.11) in the demo, which ranked #26 among cable originals. In overall viewership, it was the third lowest – only above the episodes on Triple H vs. Batista and Trish Stratus vs. Lita. (Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily)
