WWE SmackDown ratings grow for third straight week

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com

By Paul Fontaine | @PaulAceFontaine | Jan 4, 2018 7:39 am


Tuesday night's SmackDown Live on USA Network averaged 2.72 million viewers, the third straight week they have seen an increase.

Up 2% from the final show of 2017, SmackDown finished fifth for the night on cable in terms of total TV viewers and were second in the key 18-49 demo with a 0.82 rating.

This continues a strong ratings pattern for Team Blue since AJ Styles won the World title on November 7th. Since that win, the show has averaged 2.609 million viewers up 5.3% from the 2.477 million viewer average they had during the Jinder Mahal reign.

Compared to 2017, tuesday's viewership total was up almost 5% and would've been their sixth highest audience in 2017. The audience retention from WWE Raw the previous night was over 95%, one of the highest totals since the brand split in July 2016.

With next week's Raw show going up against the NCAA college football championship, there is a good chance that SmackDown beats Raw for the first time in over a year.