WWE SmackDown ratings down following Superstar Shake-up

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com


By Paul Fontaine | @PaulAceFontaine | Apr 24, 2019 2:44 pm


Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.072 million viewers, down seven percent from last week's episode. It was the second straight night of bad ratings news for the company -- as Raw was down from the previous week and down over 26 percent year-over-year.

SmackDown retained a higher-than-usual 87 percent of the Raw audience and thus was "only" down just over 18 percent from 2018.

SmackDown finished ninth for the night in terms of total cable viewers and was fourth in the 18-49 demo with a 0.71 rating. It trailed two NBA playoff games in the demo, as well as the post-game show, which all aired on TNT. The first round playoff game between the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic that aired directly opposite SmackDown did 2.275 million viewers.

Miz and Mrs., which followed SmackDown on the USA Network, did a series-low 940,000 viewers, so last episode having the show's highest ratings for the second part of season one was likely a result of the higher-than-usual SmackDown number.