Friday Night SmackDown was the top show on cable in prime time while AEW Rampage recorded its largest audience in nearly three months.
The December 13 edition of SmackDown from Hartford averaged 1,530,000 viewers and 626,000 (0.47) in the 18-49 demographic, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider.
The 2% viewership increase was a three-week high for the series, while the 18-49 audience grew by 6%, reaching its highest mark since November 8. SmackDown registered a 0.69 with males in the demo and 0.24 with women.
The live edition of the show was the top cable program on Friday night and beat everything on television in the core demographic, including broadcast. SmackDown’s 0.47 in the demo topped S.W.A.T. on CBS (0.34), Blue Bloods on CBS (0.33), and Fire Country on CBS (0.33). It nearly tripled Gold Rush on Discovery, which ranked second among cable programs on Friday night.
The show featured heavy promotion of Saturday Night’s Main Event program the following evening and concluded with a segment involving Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens.
AEW Rampage rebounded with its highest audience since September 20 with an average of 279,000 viewers and 105,000 (0.08) in the 18-49 demographic.
The overall audience grew by 58% from the prior week and 94% in the 18-49 demographic. The growth in the demo was all males as it did a 0.14 while females was only 0.01.
Rampage ranked #14 among prime-time cable programming and fourth in its timeslot behind Gutfeld on Fox News (0.15), On Patrol: Live on Reelz (0.11), and Killer Cases on A&E (0.09).
Rampage was headlined by Powerhouse Hobb & Mark Davis taking on Konosuke Takeshita & Lance Archer.
