WWE Raw ratings down three percent despite Ronda Rousey match

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com

By Dave Meltzer | @davemeltzerWON | Aug 7, 2018 2:04 pm

Raw last night, built around Ronda Rousey's show in-ring debut, did 2.80 million viewers, down three percent from last week, although last week was the best number since April 30.

For the second week in row, Raw was number one on cable, with Hannity on Fox News at 2.73 million coming the closest. Raw also beat FOX and CW programming, meaning it was only behind ABC, NBC, and CBS on prime time television, and hour number two beat CBS programming.

Last week's show was pushed around the return of both Rousey and Brock Lesnar, leading to bigger than usual numbers.

Rousey kept the third-hour drop to be much lower than usual, only 126,000 viewers. Last week's third-hour drop was 197,000 viewers from hour two, and that was better than usual. If there was a Rousey effect notable, it was that women 18-49 grew five percent during a period it usually falls. However, the heavy-women emphasized third hour, with the final two bouts being women's matches, saw the men's 18-49 demo drop six percent from hour two to three, a demo that usually holds steadier.

Rousey's first match did not crack the Google search rankings, so it didn't have the mainstream buzz what would lead to unusually good numbers.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.83 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.85 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.73 million viewers