A surprise appearance by The Rock on Friday’s episode of SmackDown led to the second-largest audience for the program this year.
The September 15 episode from Denver averaged 2,569,000 viewers and 918,000 (0.70) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.
SmackDown was #1 among sports programs on Friday with a 23% viewership increase and a 33% increase in the 18-49 audience from the previous week on Fox.
It was SmackDown’s second largest audience of the year behind the August 25 episode, which was a tribute show for Windham “Bray Wyatt” Rotunda and Terry Funk.
In the 18-49, male viewership jumped 39% from 442,000 to 614,000 viewers whereas females grew from 250,000 to 304,000 or 22%.
Adults 18-34 spiked 33% including a giant increase of 45% among men in the demo.
Adults 35-49 increased from 446,000 to 590,000 or 32% from last week.
In Canada, the show averaged 190,900 viewers and 99,900 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. Viewership was up by 15% and the highest in two weeks while the 25-54 audience was up significantly from last week’s average of 63,700. It was SmackDown’s largest demo audience in Canada since July 21.
SmackDown ranked #7 among sports programs in Canada on Friday and was #3 in the demo behind the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox and the CFL game behind Edmonton and Saskatchewan.
The show was highlighted by unannounced appearances by Pat McAfee and The Rock in the opening segment and carried over to the next quarter. The first thirty minutes of the show averaged 2,795,000 viewers and 1,009,000 in the 18-49 demo with Q1 being the peak of the show. The audience dropped 9% in Q3 after their appearances, per Wrestlenomics.
AEW Rampage dropped to its lowest 18-49 audience of the year in its regular time slot on TNT.
The September 15 episode averaged 335,000 viewers and 122,000 (0.09) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics.
It was down 13% in viewership and dropped 28% in the key demo from last week’s performance.
There was a dramatic decline among female viewership with women 18-49 falling from 70,000 to 38,000 (46%) and females 18-34 dropping from 39,000 to 11,000 (72%). The male declines were 16% in 18-49 and 35% in 18-34.
The older audience had less instability with a 7% drop among adults 35-49 with males only falling by 3% while females fell by 13% from last week.
The peak quarter was in viewership was the first fifteen minutes with 363,000 viewers for The Hardys & Lucha Bros. against Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, The Butcher & The Blade. The high point for the 18-49 audience was in the second quarter with 125,000 for a QTV segment and The Kingdom vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal. The 18-49 audience was very steady throughout the show ranging from 120,000 to 125,000. The main event between Kris Statlander and Jade Cargill did see viewership increase by 7% with the quarter hours reported by Wrestlenomics.
