WWE SmackDown ratings down for post-Rumble episode

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com

By Paul Fontaine | @PaulAceFontaine | Jan 31, 2018 2:01 pm


Despite this being the first episode after a Royal Rumble that received a ton of mainstream media attention, SmackDown was down three percent in the ratings this week.

Last year's show following the Royal Rumble saw a 10 percent increase.

SmackDown was almost certainly hurt by the second half going up against the State of the Union address, which drew an audience of over 30 million viewers across various network and cable TV channels. As a result, SmackDown didn't even crack the top 20 in terms of total viewers on cable, with various news programs dominating the cable ratings. SmackDown is usually solidly in the top 10.

In the 18-49 demo, SmackDown is almost always first or second on the night. But yesterday's episode fell all the way to ninth -- with a 0.76 rating.

With Raw having a better than average number following the Rumble and the hit that SmackDown took due to the tough competition, the show retained just under 75 percent of the Raw audience from the night before. It was also down almost 11 percent in the year-over-year ratings, the biggest decline since August 29th and the second largest since the show moved to a live format on Tuesday nights.