Friday Night SmackDown ranked first on television this past Friday while AEW Rampage posted its largest audience three weeks after the Olympics.
The August 17 edition of SmackDown averaged 2,252,000 viewers and 807,000 (0.61) in the 18-49 demographic, which was first among all television programming on Friday. The show dominated in the key demo with NBC’s Dateline Classic ranking second at 0.24. (Wrestlenomics & Programming Insider)
The conclusion of the Olympics assisted SmackDown, and no NFL pre-season games took place that night. However, the difference was minimal with its overall viewership down by 1% and the 18-49 audience up by 4% from last week’s numbers.
The show also experienced a bounce in Canada averaging 192,400 viewers and 76,200 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. Last week, the show fell to 103,300 viewers, which was SmackDown’s lowest in Canada in two years. SmackDown ranked second among sports on Friday behind the CFL game between Montreal and Saskatchewan.
This Friday’s episode of SmackDown will air against the Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Atlanta Falcons on the NFL Network.
AEW Rampage hit its highest audience since July 26, attracting 295,000 viewers and 133,000 (0.10) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics.
This was Rampage’s best performance since the ‘Royal Rumble’ edition of the show, which aired on the same night as the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. It was also Rampage’s largest 18-49 audience since July 19.
The show included a main event between Top Flight and MxM Collection.
