The season premiere of WWE Raw aired against a big NFL game involving the Dallas Cowboys and led to a small viewership decrease.
The October 16 episode of Raw from Oklahoma City averaged 1,483,000 viewers and 589,000 (0.44) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics and Sports TV Ratings.
While overall viewership declined by 5%, the 18-49 demo was up by 4% this week and a two-week high for Raw.
The show averaged 1,544,000 viewers in the opening hour, stayed steady at 1,527,000 in the second, and fell to 1,379,000 in the third hour as it built to the tag title match in the main event.
Raw aired against the Dallas Cowboys vs. L.A. Chargers that averaged 19,592,000 viewers between ABC & ESPN as well as Game 1 of the NLCS between the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks that averaged 3,722,000 viewers and 0.87 in the demo on TBS.
Raw’s 18-34 demo saw a strange result with the category up 6% this week averaging 219,000 viewers. The interesting part is men increased by 26% to 160,000 this week while women dropped by the exact same percentage to 59,000.
Adults 35-49 increased by 4% due to women in the demo growing from 88,000 to 109,000 this week.
In Canada, Raw ranked #4 among sports programs on Monday averaging 222,200 viewers and 93,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. The audience was down 1% from last week while the demo grew by 18%. It was a very competitive night with Raw airing against the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Chicago Blackhawks and Monday Night Football and finished ahead of the Arizona vs. Philadelphia MLB playoff game.
Last Friday’s season premiere of SmackDown averaged 213,900 viewers and 91,500 in the 25-54 demo on Sportsnet 360 in Canada, which was SmackDown’s largest audience in Canada since September 1. On Friday, SmackDown was #3 among sports programs behind two CFL games. WWE Main Event ranked #9 with 88,400 viewers and 28,100 in the demo and aired immediately after SmackDown.
