On a night full of playoff games, WWE Raw fell to its lowest viewership since January., although managed to rank third on cable for the night behind the NBA.
The April 22 episode from Columbus averaged 1,597,000 viewers and 689,000 viewers (0.52) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics and Sports Media Watch.
It was Raw’s lowest figures since January 15 with a twelve percent decline in viewership and a fifteen percent decrease in the core demo from last Monday’s episode.
The show opened low with 1,610,000 viewers and 676,000 viewers in the demo for the first hour, had a bit of growth in the second hour to 1,640,000 viewers and 697,000 in the demo before dropping to 1,543,000 and 695,000 in the final hour. Despite the lower average audience in the opening hour, the audience that tuned in stuck around and only dropped four percent throughout the show while the 18-49 audience increased by three percent from the first to the third hour.
The first two hours of Raw were opposed by the Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks (2,945,000 viewers and 0.95 in the demo on TNT, simulcast on truTV with 524,000 viewers and 0.22) followed by the L.A. Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets (3,615,000 viewers and 1.24 on TNT and 636,000 and 0.28 on truTV).
Raw also aired against the NHL playoffs on ESPN with the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins (1,132,000 viewers and 0.35 in the demo) followed by the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Dallas Stars (777,000 viewers and 0.28).
In Canada, Raw was moved to the much smaller OLN network which resulted in the show averaging 96,000 viewers and 40,000 in the 25-54 demographic. It was a loaded night of sports competition led by the Leafs vs. Bruins drawing a massive audience of 2.3 million and L.A. Kings vs. Edmonton Oilers averaging 1.55 million viewers.
