[sayit]WWE Raw mitigated its damage against Monday Night Football with an increase over the previous two weeks against NFL competition.
The September 25 episode of Raw from Ontario, California, averaged 1,465,000 viewers and 562,000 (0.43) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics and Sports TV Ratings.
For the second week in a row, Raw aired against two NFL games across Disney’s sports platforms. The Philadelphia Eagles vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers game averaged 13,719,000 and 3.84 in the 18-49 demo on ABC while the L.A. Rams vs. Cincinnati Bengals attracted 7,688,000 and 2.29 in the demo on ESPN along with 1,267,000 and 0.41 on ESPN 2. The Rams vs. Bengals did 9,026,000 viewers altogether including ESPN Deportes.
Raw’s audience was up 10% from last week and its highest audience since September 4, which was the last Monday to air without NFL competition. However, the 18-49 audience had a slight drop of 2% from 574,000 to 562,000.
The increase in viewership was a result of Raw’s non-18-49 audience (mainly 50+) increasing and therefore, it’s median viewing age was the highest it’s been since February at 53.5, per Wrestlenomics.
Raw began with 1,547,000 viewers and 0.43 in the 18-49 demo during the first hour of the show. It stayed similar in hour two with 1,526,000 viewers and 0.44 in the demo before a drop in the final hour to 1,322,000 and 0.40.
Adults 18-34 fell from 206,000 to 196,000 this week with males down by 11% but females increasing by the same percentage.
Adults 35-49 were virtually identical with a 1% drop this week.
In Canada, Raw averaged 273,900 viewers and 113,100 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. It was a small decrease from last week but there was heavy competition with both NFL games and a Toronto Maple Leafs’ pre-season game that led to Raw ranking #5 among sports programs in Canada on Monday.
CORRECTION: We had originally posted the 18-49 rating at 0.41 but have corrected it to 0.43 for this week’s rating.[/sayit]
