Tag: raw ratings

Monday was a weird night for ratings with the NFL’s Damar Hamlin tragedy.

The Buffalo Bills vs,. Cincinnati Bengals game coverage ended at 10:10 p.m., but the third hour of Raw fell greatly perhaps due to people wondering about what happened.

Raw averaged 1.60 million viewers with a 0.41 rating in 18-49. It finished 11th for the day but was second behind ESPN in the time slot. It beat CBS, beat NBC in hour three, and beat Fox.

The NFL game averaged 23.79 million viewers and drew a 6.24 in 18-49 between ABC (11.05 million/2.42), ESPN (9.11 million/2.56), and ESPN2 (3.63 million/1.26).

While not head-to-head, Raw finished behind the Rose Bowl (10.19 million/2.34), Cotton Bowl (4.17 million/1.06), as well as the NHL game on TNT (1.78 million/0.60), and the ReliaQuest Bowl (2.18 million/0.52).

Raw was down six percent in viewers from two weeks ago (last week was the Best of 2022 episode), down five percent in 18-49, and down 10 percent in 18-34.

From the same week last year, Raw was down six percent in viewers, down 10 percent in 18-49, and down 18 percent in 18-34. Factoring out homes lost, the real percentage decline would be one percent in viewers, five percent in 18-49, and 13 percent in 18-34.

Raw was tenth in women 18-49, 11th in men 18-49, 12th in 18-34, tenth in women 12-34, 12th in men 12-34, and 17th in total viewers.

The first-to-third hour decline would be among the largest in the history of the show, but there were extenuating circumstances to a degree as to why. The show was built for an Austin Theory vs. Seth Rollins United States title match as the main event.

The declines from hour one to three were 25 percent in women 18-49, 15 percent in men 18-49, 26 percent in women 12-34 , 17 percent in men 12-34, and 26 percent with people over 50.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.83 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.60 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.39 million viewers

Monday night’s episode of Raw averaged 1.705 million viewers on the USA Network, up 15.8 percent from last week. It’s the best audience total for the show since October 17.

The first hour averaged 1.781 million viewers, and Raw stayed steady for hour two at 1.767 million. The third hour drop to 1.568 million viewers was much better audience retention than usual.

Raw finished seventh on cable with a 0.43 rating in the 18-49 demo, up 16.2 percent from last week, which was one of the lowest-rated episodes in show history. Raw beat everything else on television last night (including the broadcast networks) not related to the NFL. It’s Raw’s best rating in 18-49 since November 16. 

As compared to the same week in 2021, Raw’s overall audience was up 9.8 percent and its 18-49 rating was up 13.2 percent.

Next Monday’s Raw will be a “Best Of” episode looking back at 2022.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of Raw viewership by hour, along with the 10-week average viewership. This week’s show was up four percent in overall viewership and exactly even with the 10-week average in 18-49.

Raw last night tied its all-time record low audience on the USA Network with 1.47 million viewers, and did its third-lowest 18-49 rating on the network in history at a 0.37.

The viewership number ties the July 5, 2021 Raw for the show’s lowest on USA Network. There was an episode that was moved to Syfy and did 1.39 million viewers earlier this year against the Olympics.

This week’s Monday Night Football game also did lower than usual with the New England Patriots vs. Arizona Cardinals averaging 10.25 million viewers and drawing a 2.89 in 18-49, broken down as 9.12 million viewers and a 2.47 rating on ESPN and 1.13 million and a 0.42 on ESPN2.

Raw was seventh for the night on cable, behind only NFL-related programming. Raw was ninth with women 18-49, seventh in men 18-49, seventh in people 18-34, seventh in women 12-34, and eighth in men 12-34.

What’s notable is the ratings pattern was completely different from the past two weeks, which had high first hours and set records for the largest declines in the nearly 30-year history of the show.

This week Raw started very low, increased in hour two, and fell down in hour three, but hour three was well above last week’s record low. So that means the Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley match anchoring the episode kept the audience far better than in several weeks.

Raw was down four percent in viewers from last week, down nine percent in 18-49, and even in 18-34.

From one year ago, Raw was down six percent in viewers, down three percent in 18-49, and up 19 percent in 18-34. If you go by actual percentages of homes the show is in, factoring out cord cutting, the annual change is favorable with only a one percent drop in viewers, a three percent increase in 18-49, and a 26 percent increase in 18-34.

The first-to-third hour drops were only four percent in women 18-49, 10 percent in men 18-49, 12 percent in women 12-34, a 14 percent increase in men 12-34, and a five percent drop with people over 50.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.48 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.55 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.39 million viewers

U.S. television wrestling continued to take a hit as last night’s Raw averaged 1.54 million viewers, including setting its record for the least viewed hour ever for a prime time Raw on the USA Network when hour three did 1.26 million viewers. Raw’s 18-49 rating was slightly up to a 0.41 while the 18-34 rating was a 0.25.

That’s a lower third hour than on holidays like July 4 or New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve, with the show in hour three built around Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka.

Every wrestling program except NXT had major declines this past week.

Raw also set a record with its first-ever 28 percent decline from hour one to hour three.

Raw was sixth for the night on cable television, trailing NFL-related programming on ESPN and ESPN2.

The New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay game did 10.13 million viewers and a 2.72 demo rating on ESPN and 1.14 million and 0.38 on ESPN2.

Barmageddon, after the third hour of Raw, hosted by Nikki Bella and promoted tremendously during the show, debuted at 650,000 viewers and a 0.18, putting it in the number 15 spot for the day and behind only the NFL game on ESPN and ESPN2 in the time slot.

Raw beat CBS in hour three and beat Fox all night among network shows.

Raw was down eight percent in viewers from last week, but up two percent in 18-49. It was down 19 percent in 18-34.

From last year, where the show this week did a record low in 18-49 against a monster football game, Raw was down four percent in viewers, up 16 percent in 18-49, and up 32 percent in 18-34, and factoring in the decline in homes getting the station, realistically it’s a two percent increase in viewers, a 23 percent gain in 18-49, and a 39 percent gain in 18-34.

Raw was sixth in women 18-49, seventh in men 18-49, sixth in 18-34, fifth in women 12-34, and seventh in men 12-34. It was behind only NFL-related programming except for 90 Day Single Life beat Raw in women 18-49 and women 12-34. Raw was 20th in total viewers, trailing only NFL-related shows, news shows, and 90 Day Single Life, which would be the first time an entertainment show on Monday has beaten Raw in total viewers in months.

The first-to-third hour declines were 30 percent with women 18-49, 18 percent with men 18-49, 30 percent with women 12-34, 26 percent in men 12-34, and 27 percent with people over 50.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.60 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.26 million viewers

Raw on Monday featured one of the largest first-to-third hour tune-outs in history, largely due to the artificially high hour one having no commercials.

The show averaged 1.67 million viewers, in line with what Raw has been doing in recent weeks, and drew a 0.40 rating in 18-49. The latter was the lowest non-holiday number of the year. The only episodes this year that were lower were on January 1, July 4, and October 31.

The key was the 27 percent first-to-third hour drop. Hour one, the commercial-free hour, did well due to not having the declines that take place during commercials. But that didn’t help hours two and three, and in particular hour three with a main event of Kevin Owens vs. Jey Uso.

This was against a weaker NFL game, as both Pittsburgh and Indianapolis came in below .500 and the game did 10.88 million viewers and a 3.18 in 18-49, at the low end of what football has been doing in the time slot.

Raw beat everything else on cable except the football game, the kickoff show, the postgame show, the Countdown show, and the SportsCenter episode after the game, to finish in sixth place.

Seventh place was the South Korea vs. Ghana World Cup game on FS1 at 7:43 a.m., which did 912,000 viewers and drew a 0.33 in 18-49.

Raw was 10th in women 18-49 (much lower than usual), sixth in men 18-49, sixth in 18-34, sixth in women 12-34, and seventh in men 12-34 (behind NFL and the morning World Cup game). In total viewers, Raw was 13th, trailing only NFL-related programming and news.

Raw was up one percent in viewers from last week, down two percent in 18-49, and up seven percent in 18-34.

From one year ago this week, Raw was down one percent in viewers, down 11 percent in 18-49, and up 11 percent in 18-34.

The first-to-third hour drop of 27 percent was the largest in history.

As far as where the drops came, women 18-49 dropped 27 percent from hour one to three, men 18-49 dropped 21 percent, women 12-34 dropped 17 percent, men 12-34 dropped 18 percent, and people over 50 dropped 28 percent.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.96 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.62 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.45 million viewers

Monday night’s episode of Raw averaged 1.646 million viewers on the USA Network, virtually identical to the 1.648 million the show averaged last week. It’s still the second-highest audience total for Raw since October 17. 

Raw finished seventh on the cable charts with a 0.41 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s down 6.8 percent from last week and is Raw’s lowest rating in that category since Halloween night.

Monday Night Football on ESPN, which ran head-to-head with most of Raw, was about the same audience the NFL usually does on Mondays with 11.2 million viewers. The football game topped the cable charts with a 3.31 rating in 18-49. Aside from NFL-related programming, the only show on cable to beat Raw was an early morning World Cup soccer game on FS1 which averaged nearly 1.4 million viewers and drew a 0.55 in 18-49.

Raw averaged 1.831 million viewers in the first hour, dropped to 1.641 million in the second, and closed with 1.467 million viewers in hour three. The 19.9 percent drop from hour one to hour three was the third-largest decline of the year to date.

As compared with the same week in 2021, Raw’s viewership was down 3.1 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 16.3 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of Raw viewership by hour, along with the overall 18-49 rating and the 10-week averages. This week’s show was down 0.7 percent in overall viewers and down 8.9 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

Even though the NFL competition was tougher, Raw was slightly up from last week, averaging 1.65 million viewers and drawing a 0.44 rating in 18-49.

The Monday Night Football game with Washington ending Philadelphia’s undefeated record did 12.77 million viewers and a 3.81 in 18-49. It only aired on ESPN.

Raw was sixth for the night on cable, behind the game, the postgame show, the kickoff show, and SportsCenter after the game.

Aside from ESPN, Raw beat everything on cable. It also beat ABC throughout prime time, beat CBS after 8:30 p.m., beat NBC after 10 p.m., and beat Fox after 9 p.m. In the 9 p.m. hour it was behind only the NFL and The Voice on NBC. In the 10 p.m. hour it beat everything but the NFL.

Raw was seventh in women 18-49, trailing the three NFL broadcasts, Love & Hip Hop Atlanta, and 90 Day Single Life. It was sixth in men 18-49, sixth in 18-34, fifth in women 12-34, and sixth in men 12-34. It was 22nd for the day in total viewers behind four NFL-related shows and 17 news shows.

Raw was up three percent in viewers from last week, up three percent in 18-49, and up two percent in 18-34. The NFL game was up 21 percent in total viewers and up 20 percent in 18-49 from last week.

From one year ago, Raw was up four percent in viewers, up five percent in 18-49, and up 33 percent in 18-34. Factoring in homes that no longer get cable, the real percentage increases were nine percent in viewers, 10 percent in 18-49, and 38 percent in 18-34.

It’s the usual post-daylight saving time pattern with viewers starting out high and declining throughout the show.

With Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor as the main event, the show dropped similarly to last week from hour one to three.

Women 18-49 dropped nine percent from the first hour to the third, men 18-49 dropped 17 percent, women 12-34 were up 11 percent, and men 12-34 were down 22 percent. People over 50 were down 19 percent.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.79 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.68 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.47 million viewers

Even though Monday Night Football had its lowest numbers of the season, and Raw was coming off a major pay-per-view, Raw was well below what it has been doing this season against football.

Raw averaged 1.59 million viewers last night with a 0.43 rating in 18-49 and a 0.31 in 18-34.

The Baltimore Ravens vs. New Orleans Saints NFL game did 9.36 million viewers and a 2.75 on ESPN and 1.18 million and a 0.43 on ESPN2, for a combined 10.53 million viewers and 3.18 rating in 18-49.

Raw was sixth on cable, behind the game, the kickoff show, the postgame show, SportsCenter after the postgame show, and the Countdown show.

Raw was fifth in women 18-49, seventh in men 18-49, seventh in people 18-34, fourth in women 12-34, and seventh in men 12-34. With the exception of losing to Love & Hip Hop Atlanta in women 18-49, it beat everything but the NFL-related shows on ESPN and ESPN2 on cable.

Raw was 22nd for the day in total viewers, beating everything but NFL-related shows and news shows.

Raw also beat the third hour on ABC, the entire night (all reruns) on CBS, the second hour on Fox, and all the Spanish network shows. Only NBC and ESPN beat Raw head-to-head in all three hours.

Raw was well up from last week’s Halloween show, with a six percent increase in viewers, a 19 percent increase in 18-49, and a 14 percent increase in 18-34.

From one year ago, when the show did at that time one of the lowest numbers in history, Raw was up three percent in viewers, up six percent in 18-49, and up 36 percent in 18-34.

With daylight saving time over, Raw bounced back to where the first hour was the most viewed and there was an 18 percent first-to-third hour drop. It also didn’t help that the main event of the show wasn’t announced until well into the third hour, and it ended up being Seth Rollins vs. Austin Theory for the United States title but that wasn’t known until late in the episode.

Drops were 26 percent in women 18-49, 10 percent in men 18-49, a four percent loss in women 12-34, a four percent gain in men 12-34, and a 19 percent drop with people over 50, which is the key since most of the audience is over 50.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.72 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.65 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.41 million viewers

Even with the third game of the World Series being rained out, the combination of Halloween and the NFL led to one of the lowest ratings in Raw history last night.

The episode averaged 1.50 million viewers and drew a 0.36 rating in 18-49. The 18-49 number tied a February Raw against the Olympics for second place behind the show’s all-time low of 0.35 last December. It was the fourth-lowest total viewership number in Raw’s history. The third hour was the second lowest in history.

Still, Raw finished in seventh place behind six NFL-related shows. The Cleveland Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals game did 10.01 million viewers and a 2.84 in 18-49 on ESPN, and 1.29 million viewers and a 0.43 on ESPN2, also well down from usual. Had the World Series game last night not been rained out, this would have almost certainly been the lowest rated Raw in history, so WWE dodged two bullets with the rain-out, because the potential Friday night game was moved to Saturday for a travel day and SmackDown will be back on Fox.

Raw was seventh in women 18-49, seventh in men 18-49, seventh in people 18-34, fifth in women 12-34, and seventh in men 12-34.

It was 22nd for the night in total viewers behind only news and NFL-related shows. The next highest rated non-sports show was Love & Hip Hop Atlanta at 511,000/0.21.

Raw was down eight percent in viewers from last week, down 19 percent in 18-49, and down 13 percent in 18-34. Because the NFL was similar to last week, those drops are likely due to the Halloween night factor.

From one year ago, the show was down 11 percent in viewers, down 23 percent in 18-49, and down 10 percent in 18-34. Last year’s show aired on November 1, not on Halloween.

As far as first-to-third hour movement, women 18-49 were up four percent, men 18-49 down five percent, women 12-34 up 10 percent, men 12-34 dropped 12 percent, and people over 50 dropped 16 percent. If there’s a reason for the women’s increase it would likely be Halloween-related because that’s an unusual pattern.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.55 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.59 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.36 million viewers

Even with the NFL down from recent weeks, Raw last night was down as well, averaging 1.64 million viewers and drawing a 0.45 rating in 18-49.

Raw was sixth for the night behind the Chicago Bears vs. New England Patriots game that did 10.34 million viewers and a 2.97 in 18-49 on ESPN and 1.48 million viewers and 0.56 on ESPN2. The other programs ahead of Raw were the kickoff show on ESPN, the postgame show on ESPN, and SportsCenter after the postgame show. Raw did beat Monday Night Countdown on ESPN at 1.35 million viewers and 0.43.
Raw also beat ABC from 10-11 p.m., beat CBS from 8:30 to 9 p.m and again from 10 p.m to 11 p.m., beat NBC in the third hour, and beat Fox in the second hour.

Raw was eighth in women 18-49 (behind four NFL-related shows plus three entertainment shows aimed at women), seventh in men 18-49, seventh in people 18-34, fourth in women 12-34, and eighth in men 12-34. It was 19th for total viewers, with the only shows ahead being news shows and NFL-related programming.

The show had a big third-hour drop.

Raw was down nine percent in viewers from last week, down 10 percent in 18-49, and down three percent in 18-34.

From one year ago, it was down one percent in viewers, down six percent in 18-49, and up seven percent in 18-34. If you factor in homes lost by cable from last year, the real percentages would be a four percent increase in viewers, a one percent drop in 18-49, and a 12 percent increase in 18-34.

The third hour, anchored by Bianca Belair vs. Bayley in a non-title match, was down 26 percent from hour one in women 18-49, down 15 percent in men 18-49, down 21 percent in women 12-34, down 19 percent in men 12-34, and down 14 percent with people over 50.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.77 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.70 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.46 million viewers