Friday Night SmackDown saw its audience remain steady with two weeks remaining until WrestleMania.
The March 18th edition of SmackDown averaged 2,147,000 viewers and approximately 755,000 (0.58) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.
WWE Smackdown, Friday on Fox 8-10pm:
2,147,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.58 (755,000)AEW Rampage Friday on TNT 11:48 – 12:47pm:
398,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.13 (166,000)Rampage started late due to college basketball.
📊 More demos & analysis: https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/0un9JDfGOU
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) March 21, 2022
The numbers are in line with SmackDown’s recent performances with viewership down 3.5 percent from the prior week while the 18-49 audience was up by one percent.
In the 18-34 demographic, the show fell by five percent, which was due to men in the category dropping by 12.5 percent this week while women were up by eight percent in the demo.
Over the past four weeks, SmackDown is averaging 2,187,000 viewers and 753,500 in the 18-49 demographic with two more episodes before WrestleMania.
In Canada, after hitting its largest number of the year last week, SmackDown fell 33 percent this week with an average of 146,800 viewers and 70,400 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. SmackDown finished seventh among sports programming on Friday, which was led by the Toronto Raptors vs. L.A. Lakers and included multiple NHL games.
SmackDown advertised a “collision” between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar throughout the week and featured Lesnar attacking Reigns and The Bloodline with a forklift as the group attempted to leave the arena in an SUV. The involvement of Lesnar and Reigns occupied most of the opening thirty minutes of the program.