Friday Night SmackDown was down from its normal levels with a taped edition of the show prior to Crown Jewel.
The November 3 episode – taped a week earlier in Milwaukee – averaged 2,119,000 viewers and 700,000 (0.53) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Sports TV Ratings.
It was SmackDown’s lowest figures since September 8.
Last week’s show aired on FS1, so for a fair comparison, the show’s viewership was down 6% and the demo audience fell by 10% from the October 20 episode on Fox.
In adults 18-34, the taped show was virtually the same as the live episode from two weeks ago going from 265,000 to 269,000.
Adults 35-49 averaged 440,000, which was down 15% from two weeks ago.
While SmackDown didn’t have to air against the MLB playoffs, there were still sports to contend with. The New York Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks averaged 1,644,000 viewers and 0.51 in the demo on ESPN while ESPN 2 featured a college football game between Syracuse and Boston College that had 1,099,000 viewers and 0.21 in the demo.
In Canada, SmackDown was the top sports program for the night with 235,400 viewers and 76,800 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. It was ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Buffalo Sabres, and F1 Qualifying, which were next ranked programs.
The taped show featured a contract signing between Roman Reigns and LA Knight, a face-to-face with John Cena and Solo Sikoa, and the main event with Bianca Belair beating Bayley.
Wrestlenomics reported that the peak quarter was the opening fifteen minutes of the show with the contract signing averaging 2,310,000 viewers and 734,000 in the demo.
AEW Rampage dropped 13% in viewership to 298,000 but increased 23% in the 18-49 demo from 120,000 to 147,000 this past Friday on TNT.
It was Rampage’s lowest audience since June 9 and makes it the second-lowest audience for Rampage in its normal time slot, ever.
However, it was Rampage’s largest 18-49 audience since October 13.
In the key demo, males grew from 34,000 to 48,000 and females increased from 86,000 to 99,000.
Adults 18-34 averaged 49,000 and was up 75% from last week.
Adults 35-49 grew 7% from last week.
Rampage aired against the ending of the New York Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks game the first 39 minutes of the Dallas Mavericks vs. Denver Nuggets, which averaged 1,796,000 viewers and 0.60 in the 18-49 demo on ESPN.
Rampage was headlined by Daniel Garcia beating Trent Beretta and opened with a three-way match involving El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander vs. Penta El Zero Miedo.
