Friday Night SmackDown dropped to its lowest audience of the year but topped everything on television except NCAA basketball coverage.
The March 22 episode averaged 2,235,000 viewers and 0.61 in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider.
The audience fell by four percent while the core demo dropped by ten percent for an episode promoted around a face-to-face confrontation involving Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. It was the first time in four weeks that The Rock did not appear on SmackDown.
SmackDown ranked fourth among all programming on Friday behind the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. CBS’ coverage of James Madison vs. Wisconsin ranked first with 5.2 million viewers and a 1.52 rating in the 18-49 demo followed by Vermont vs. Duke, which averaged 4.5 million viewers and a 1.09 rating in the demo.
It was SmackDown’s lowest number for an episode since December.
In Canada, SmackDown averaged 270,700 viewers and 95,100 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, an increase of eight percent in viewership and twenty-nine percent in the demo.
SmackDown ranked third among sports programming on Friday night behind Curling coverage and was first in the demo for the night.
