WWE Raw had its strongest performance against Monday Night Football this season as the program aired against two games airing on ABC and ESPN.
The September 30 edition of Raw from Evansville, Indiana, averaged 1,516,000 viewers and 644,000 viewers (0.48) in the 18-49 demographic, which ranked second on cable in prime time behind the Tennessee Titans vs. Miami Dolphins on ESPN, according to Wrestlenomics & Programming Insider.
It was the strongest NFL competition for Raw this season with the Titans vs. Dolphins averaging 5,611,000 viewers and a 1.77 rating in the demo and the Seattle Seahawks vs. Detroit Lions attracting 15,030,000 viewers and 3.95 in the demo. The combined football audience was 20,498,000, which is the largest viewership for the NFL on a Monday night this season.
The result led to Raw increasing by 13% in viewership and rising by 12% in the 18-49 demographic from last week. Monday’s episode was Raw’s largest viewership since September 2 and the highest audience in the demo since September 16.
Raw began with 1,577,000 viewers and 675,000 (0.51) in the 18-49 demographic for the opening hour.
The second hour averaged 1,543,000 viewers and 651,000 (0.48) in the demo featuring the big segment of the night involving CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, which averaged 1,750,000 viewers and 752,000 (0.56) during its quarter-hour, per Wrestlenomics.
The third hour averaged 1,427,000 viewers and 603,000 (0.45) including the Last Monster Standing main event between Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed.
Raw’s viewership in Canada averaged 292,500 viewers and 149,600 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which were increases of 15% and 19% respectively over last week. Raw ranked fourth among sports programming on Monday behind both NFL games and an NHL pre-season game between Vancouver and Edmonton.
