The first three-hour edition of Friday Night SmackDown ranked second among all television programs in the key demographic for its night.
The January 3 show from Phoenix in the expanded format averaged 1,528,000 viewers and 603,000 viewers (0.45) in the 18-49 demographic and in line with its audience in the prior two-hour presentation.
SmackDown ranked second in the key demo among all programming and topped everything on broadcast on Friday. It was behind ESPN’s coverage of the Mayo Bowl between Minnesota and Virginia Tech, which attracted an audience of 3,384,000 and 0.65 in the demo.
SmackDown’s audience increased by 6%, and the 18-49 audience grew by 10% from the previous episode, which was its highest figure over the past three weeks.
The show performed exceptionally well among women in the core demo with a 0.32 rating and its largest female audience in the 18-49 demo since November 22.
The show aired on YouTube for international viewers with the first Netflix edition of the show airing this Friday. This included Canada, which is among the countries where SmackDown is shifting to the streamer. Therefore, we will not have Canadian viewership data moving forward but will continue to have numbers for AEW & TNA programming in the country.
The move to the three-hour format for SmackDown is tempered by the news that the show will shift back to two hours later this year. Paul Levesque said the extended length is temporary with Brandon Thurston & WrestleVotes noting that the move back to two hours is expected in June.
Data: Programming Insider and Wrestlenomics
