WWE SmackDown draws best overnight ratings in nearly two months

[Big Red Machine]

https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe- ... ths-324046

By Paul Fontaine | @PaulAceFontaine | Oct 31, 2020 10:25 am

Overnight viewership for Friday night's SmackDown saw the show average 2.133 million viewers on Fox, its highest number since September 11.

That's way up from last week when SmackDown aired on FS1 due to the World Series being on Fox. Last night's overnight viewership was up 7.3 percent from two weeks ago when SmackDown last aired on Fox.

In the 18-49 demo, SmackDown averaged a 0.6 rating. That's up 140 percent from last week's FS1 number and up 20 percent from the last Fox episode. It matched the highest overnight number in the demo for SmackDown since March 27 and tied with ABC's Shark Tank for the top mark on network TV last night.

SmackDown also tied with Shark Tank for the top spot in the 18-34 demo rankings with a 0.3 rating. That's up 131 percent from last week and up 50 percent from the last episode on Fox. It tied for SmackDown's best number since August 27 in that demo.

Comparing the year-over-year numbers, SmackDown was down 16.1 percent in overnight viewership, 50 percent in the 18-34 demo, and 25 percent in the 18-49 demo.

Numbers were consistent throughout last night's show, averaging 2.115 million viewers for the first hour and climbing 1.7 percent to 2.151 million in hour two. The only shows SmackDown beat on the networks in terms of overall viewers were a repeat of NBC's American Ninja Warrior and a CBS News special called The Deciders.