The NBA Finals took a big chunk out of the WWE Raw audience, which fell to its second-lowest viewership of the year.
The June 12 episode from Wichita, Kansas, averaged 1,595,000 viewers and 599,000 (0.46) in the 18-49 demographic, per Showbuzz Daily and Wrestlenomics.
It was a 13 percent viewership drop and an 18 percent loss among the 18-49 demo with Raw’s lowest audience since January 16 (airing against the NFL Wild Card game) and third lowest 18-49 audience in 2023.
Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat averaged 13,084,000 viewers and 3.98 in the demo on ABC and was the key culprit for Raw’s lower audience. Raw still managed to finish first among cable originals with the NBA Finals airing on ABC.
In the key demo, Raw fell 18 percent among males and 15 with females compared with last week.
Adults 18-34 fell by six percent with males in the category dropping by 17 percent, however, females in the demo grew by 15 percent over last week’s figure.
Adults 35-49 declined by 24 percent including females in that demo seeing a large drop of 35 percent this week.
There was a significant drop among adults 50+ from a 0.84 rating last week to this week’s 0.78.
Raw saw a drop throughout the show beginning with 1,752,000 viewers and 0.50 in the demo for the first hour as the NBA game began just after 8:30 p.m. ET.
The second hour dropped to 1,598,000 viewers and 0.46 in the demo. The first hour was in the normal range during playoff season, but the second hour performed poorly and dragged the average down, as did the third hour.
The final hour fell to 1,436,000 viewers and 0.42 in the demo. It was the third lowest final hour for Raw this year behind the episodes on January 2 and January 16, which both aired against the NFL.
From hour one to hour three, the show fell 18 percent in viewers and 16 percent in 18-49, dropped 19 percent in 18-34, and down 13 percent in 35-49.
In Canada, WWE Raw averaged 240,800 viewers and 112,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which was Raw’s largest viewership in Canada since May 15. They were up 20 percent in viewers and 23 percent in the demo from last week and ranked second among sports programs on Monday behind the NBA Finals.
