The return of Roman Reigns to Friday Night SmackDown didn’t provide a lift for the show.
The December 15 episode from Green Bay averaged 2,240,000 viewers and 719,000 (0.55) in the 18-49 demographic – viewership fell by 7% and the 18-49 audience fell by 13% from the previous week, per Wrestlenomics.
The 18-49 audience was SmackDown’s lowest on Fox since the taped episode that aired on November 3.
SmackDown aired against the L.A. Lakers vs. San Antonio Spurs, which averaged 1,463,000 viewers and 0.45 in the 18-49 demo on ESPN, per Sports Media Watch.
The show saw its larger declines among its female audience with women 18-49 dropping 21% (303,000 to 241,000), women 18-34 down by 22% (107,000 to 84,000), and women 35-49 down by 20% (196,000 to 157,000).
Overall, the 18-34 audience was down by 12% from 315,000 last week to 276,000, and adults 35-49 declined by 14% to 444,000.
Last week’s episode was the special Tribute to the Troops show and included CM Punk’s first appearance on SmackDown since returning at the Survivor Series last month.
In Canada, SmackDown ranked third among sports programs on Friday with 172,600 viewers and 58,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. Those numbers were down by 7% and 19% respectively from the previous week.
In addition to Reigns’ first appearance since October, the show was headlined by Randy Orton against Jimmy Uso and the unadvertised return of AJ Styles after being off television for several months.
This Friday’s edition of SmackDown will be a taped edition, which took place on Friday in Green Bay with the Resch Center hosting a double taping.
