Friday Night SmackDown scored another strong audience with an advertised appearance by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The February 16 edition of SmackDown from Salt Lake City averaged 2,555,000 viewers and 989,000 (0.75) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics and Sports Media Watch.
The figures were nearly identical to the previous week’s viewership of 2,578,000 and 985,000 in the demo. The 18-49 audience edged past last week’s, making it the largest figure in that demo since August 25.
It topped all sports programming for the night including the Celebrity Game for NBA All-Star Weekend, which averaged 1,565,000 viewers and 0.55 on ESPN, and the Rising Stars Challenge at 951,000 viewers and 0.36 in the demo.
Despite the big lineup, the show fell in Canada with approximately 186,000 viewers and 64,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which was down 15% in viewership and fell 26% in the demo from last week. Excluding a “Best of” show on December 29, it was SmackDown’s lowest audience in Canada since December 15.
AEW Rampage aired outside of its time slot due to the NBA All-Star Weekend commitments on TNT and averaged 300,000 viewers and 121,000 (0.09) in the 18-49 demographic.
Outside of its normal time, the audience fell 34% and the 18-49 audience decreased by 35%.
Adults 18-34 averaged 34,000 viewers while adults 35-49 averaged 87,000 viewers.
The show included a 12-man tag main event and opened with a No Disqualification match between Sammy Guevara and Jeff Hardy.
