Tag: Smackdown Fast National Ratings

WWE SmackDown fast national ratings up following Vince McMahon retirement announcement

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

With the show airing just hours after Vince McMahon announced his retirement, Friday night’s WWE SmackDown averaged 2.17 million viewers in the fast national ratings, up 9.8 percent from the previous week’s overnight viewership number.

It’s the highest fast national viewership for SmackDown since June 17, which was the day Vince McMahon appeared on television following the announcement that he was stepping away from his WWE chairman and CEO roles while the Board of Directors investigated his alleged misconduct.

Last night’s SmackDown drew a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demo in the fast nationals. That topped all of network TV and was double the next highest rated program.

SmackDown’s final viewership is usually 5-10 percent higher than the fast nationals. The fast national demo rating is rounded to the nearest tenth, so 0.6 could be anything between 0.56 and 0.64. The final 18-49 rating is rounded to the nearest hundredth.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of fast national viewership and 18-49 demo numbers for SmackDown on Fox, as well as the final numbers for the previous 10 weeks.

Title match, Vince McMahon appearance boost WWE SmackDown overnight ratings

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown averaged 2.272 million viewers in the fast national ratings. That’s up 26.1 percent from the overnight number of 1.802 million for the previous week. 

The previous week’s SmackDown ended up with a final average of 1.914 million viewers, so a similar increase would put this show in the 2.4-2.5 million range when final numbers are released on Monday. 

Last night’s show averaged a fast national viewership of 2.186 million viewers in the first hour and 2.362 million in the second.

It’s the highest overnight number for SmackDown since January 21, 2021. 

The show did a 0.55 fast national rating in the 18-49 demo, which led network television. That’s up 37.5 percent from the prior week’s 0.4 overnight number.

This is SmackDown’s best overnight rating in the key demo since May 7, 2021

SmackDown featured Roman Reigns’ first televised title defense as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, along with a much-publicized appearance by Vince McMahon in the show’s opening segment. It was announced earlier in the day that McMahon was voluntarily stepping away from his CEO and chairman positions until the WWE Board of Directors’ misconduct investigation is completed.