WWE SmackDown dominated cable viewership on Friday for the franchise’s return to the USA Network.
The season premiere of SmackDown on USA averaged 1,723,000 viewers and 731,000 viewers (0.55) in the 18-49 demographic, ranking first on cable for the night and even drawing a larger demo audience than their final week on Fox.
The show was coming off its second-lowest audience ever on Fox and resulted in in a 22% increase in the 18-49 audience for the debut on USA despite the cable outlet being in far fewer homes than the broadcaster.
SmackDown ranked second for all programming in prime-time in the core demo behind Fox’s coverage of the Arizona vs. Kansas State game (2,582,000 viewers and 0.60 in 18-49). WWE also aired against ESPN’s coverage of UNLV vs. Kansas (1,324,000 and 0.36).
WWE SmackDown drew an enormous audience in Canada with the show no longer simulcast on the Fox affiliate and exclusively on Sportsnet 360. From Monday’s POST news update:
For SmackDown’s viewership in Canada, this past Friday’s episode averaged 334,700 viewers and 130,200 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. The network also aired a replay at 11 p.m. ET, which drew 55,800 viewers and 44,600 in the demo. SmackDown should receive a noticeable increase as the show was previously simulcast on the Fox affiliate, which was not counted towards Canadian viewership. Now, you can only watch the show on Sportsnet 360 with the move to the USA Network in the U.S.
The live airing of SmackDown ranked #3 among sports that night behind the Toronto Blue Jays vs. St. Louis Cardinals and CFL football but was #2 in the demo and only 5,000 viewers behind the Jays’ game for first place. WWE Main Event aired at 10 p.m. ET and averaged 123,000 viewers and 51,300 in the demo, which is enormous for that show due to the massive lead-in from SmackDown.
Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage averaged 250,000 viewers and 98,000 viewers (0.07) in the 18-49 demographic on TNT. Its viewership grew by 7% but the 18-49 audience declined by 12% and was the third time since August that the show’s demo audience was under 100,000 viewers.
Rampage averaged 25,000 viewers in the 18-34 demographic and 73,000 viewers in the 35-49 category.
U.S. data: Wrestlenomics & Programming Insider
