Photo courtesy: WWE
The big test this week was whether a radical concept in the Raw Underground series of “fights” would retain its audience for the final hour of the show.
Based on the first week, the novelty of the concept worked with several increases for the third hour, although it was a unique pattern for WWE Raw.
The three-hour show averaged 1,715,000 viewers on the USA Network and a 0.51 in the 18-49 demographic. Viewership increased by 6% and the demo rating improved by 6.25% and were their best figures in those categories since June.
The show started with 1,710,000 viewers and increased by 6.6% in the second hour to 1,824,000 viewers, which is the highest hour of Raw since the opening hour of the June 29th show. In the third hour, viewership dropped by 11.7% but that was heavily skewed by the over 50 audience turning off the show.
In the key demos, the largest increase this week was among females 12-34 that were up by 60% from last week followed by males 12-34 improving by 26% and females 18-49 increasing by 25%. The only demo that fell was a minor drop with males 18-49 falling 3% this week.
Because of the unique nature of this show, we have the figures of how the demos adjusted from the first hour to the third, as well as the second hour to the third. This was because they increased in hour two and gives a better indication of which demographics tuned out once Raw Underground became the focus of the final hour.
The third hour performed best with the 12-34 demo with both males and females increasing in the third hour. The biggest turn off for the third hour was with WWE’s most reliable demo of adults over 50. In that demo, there was zero change between hour one and hour two, though it would fall by 15.3% in the last hour.
Throughout the day, WWE advertised the return of Shane McMahon along with a new faction making its debut. I would assign any credit to the third hour performance to the novelty of Raw Underground, which was promoted throughout the first two hours.
Next week’s episode of Raw is advertising a match between Randy Orton and Kevin Owens, as well as Bayley vs. Asuka.
Here is a breakdown of the key demo and how they fluctuated throughout the show:
ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.51 (+6.25%)
Hour 1-3: +6.25%
Hour 2-3: -7%
FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.40 (+25%)
Hour 1-3: +11%
Hour 2-3: -9%
MALES 18-49
This week: 0.62 (-3%)
Hour 1-3: +5%
Hour 2-3: -4.5%
ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.28 (+8%)
Hour 1-3: +24%
Hour 2-3: +7%
FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.24 (+60%)
Hour 1-3: +35%
Hour 2-3: +12.5%
MALES 12-34
This week: 0.34 (+26%)
Hour 1-3: +34.5%
Hour 2-3: +18%
ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.63 (+5%)
Hour 1-3: Even
Hour 2-3: -9%
ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.81 (Even)
Hour 1-3: -15.3%
Hour 2-3: -15.3%
