Friday Night SmackDown competed with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer while AEW Rampage’s 18-49 audience headed to the South Pole.
The December 6 edition of SmackDown averaged 1,494,000 viewers and 590,000 viewers (0.44) in the 18-49 demographic, ranking first on cable in prime time, per Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider.
The post-Survivor Series episode saw an 11% increase in its overall viewership and a 10% jump among the core demo, for a two-week high. In the 18-49 demo, males grew from 377,000 to 431,000, while female viewership in the category dropped from 167,000 to 154,000.
SmackDown was ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics on ESPN (1,279,000 viewers and 0.31 in the demo), Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News (3,264,000 and 0.15), and Private Princess Christmas on Hallmark (1,395,000 and 0.12).
For all television programming, SmackDown ranked third in 18-49 viewing behind UNLV vs. Boise State on Fox (0.70) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on NBC (0.62).
In Canada, SmackDown averaged 274,800 viewers and 112,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. It ranked third on Friday among sports programming behind two NHL games.
AEW loaded up Rampage with three Continental Classic matchups but did not generate a strong return to its normal Friday night slot.
This past Friday’s episode averaged 177,000 viewers and 54,000 (0.04) in the 18-49 demographic.
Last week’s episode aired on Saturday head-to-head with Survivor Series with 126,000 viewers and 0.03 in the demo.
For a fair comparison to the last Friday episode aired on November 22, the viewership drop was 29% this week and the 18-49 audience fell by 55%.
This past Friday’s show represented the lowest 18-49 audience Rampage has drawn in its normal slot since the show launched. According to Programming Insider, it ranked #25 among cable programs in prime time.
Rampage featured a Gold League match between Ricochet and Komander in the main event along with Daniel Garcia vs. Beast Mortos and Kazuchika Okada vs. Mark Briscoe in Blue League matches.
