After a month of historic lows for WWE Raw in its key demo, the show saw an upswing for its final episode of the year.
The December 27th edition of the show from Detroit averaged 1,592,000 viewers and 0.41 rating in the 18-49 demographic, according to Showbuzz Daily.
Both figures were the highest for the Raw since November 29th after the three lowest 18-49 numbers in the history of the program of the available data.
This week’s viewership increased 2.5 percent while the 18-49 rating was up by 8 percent from the prior week.
The first hour averaged 1,589,000 and 0.39 in 18-49 and grew to 1,656,000 and 0.43 in the second hour and was the most-watched hour of Raw this month. The third hour fell to 1,532,000 and 0.41 in the demo featuring the main event segment with The Miz and Maryse renewing their vows and being interrupted by Edge.
Raw finished sixth among cable originals behind the NFL coverage and the late edition of SportsCenter on ESPN.
The show was highlighted by a big increase in its female viewership with women 18-49 growing by 26 percent this week, which was its highest in that demo since the night after Survivor Series. Females 12-34 were up by 38 percent from 0.21 to 0.29 this week.
Adults 18-34 increased by 12.5 percent while males 18-49 were down by 7 percent.
Throughout the episode, there were small declines as the largest first-to-third hour drop was among females 12-34 but the drop was only by 6.5 percent.
Males 18-49 grew 10 percent throughout the show while people 18-49 and males 12-34 each grew 5 percent throughout the episode.
The Monday Night Football game between Miami and New Orleans averaged 12,307,000 and 3.26 in 18-49 on ESPN.
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The special Christmas night edition of AEW Rampage averaged 589,000 viewers and approximately 335,000 (0.26) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
It was Rampage’s highest overall audience since November 5th and its best 18-49 figure since September 24th, which was a special two-hour edition of the show from Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The show finished #25 among cable originals on Christmas with Rampage increased 3 percent in overall viewers and up by 16 percent in the key demo from the previous week.
The show was highlighted by Cody Rhodes regaining the TNT championship by defeating Sammy Guevara in the main event.
According to the quarter-hours from Brandon Thurston, the final fifteen minutes featuring the title match was the peak segment in overall viewers with 629,000 viewers. The top 18-49 segment was the opener between Jungle Boy and Isiah Kassidy with 345,000 compared to 341,000 for Guevara vs. Rhodes.
Quarter-hours for AEW Rampage on Christmas night, Saturday from 9 to 10 pm.
The trend was different from usual in the normal 10 to 11 pm Friday slot. Viewership held and grew in many demographics as the hour went on.
📊 https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/elCPaTq40i
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) December 29, 2021
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Friday Night SmackDown on Christmas Eve averaged 156,700 viewers in Canada with 87,100 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. It was the top sports broadcast that evening but there were no games being played and the rest of the sports chart featured ‘Misplays of the Month’ and ‘Plays of the Year’ on Sportsnet.
Much like the U.S. numbers, SmackDown airing on Christmas Eve was not a big detriment with this week’s numbers up from the previous week and was their second highest in Canada since November 26th.
