Tag: WWE RAW ratings

WWE Raw ratings up for final USA Network episode

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The final episode of WWE Raw on USA Network did its second best numbers of football season on Monday, averaging 1.60 million viewers and drawing a 0.53 rating in 18-49.

It was second to only the December 2 show, and this was more impressive given the NFL competition with the San Francisco 49ers vs. Detroit Lions game doing 22.12 million viewers and a 5.17 in 18-49 (11.97 million/2.02 on ABC and 10.15 million/3.15 on ESPN). The total NFL audience was one of the five best games since 2006.

The rating was a combination of the WWE product itself being very strong and clearly the last episode got a lot of early curiosity based on the strong first hour.

Raw beat everything on television but NFL-related shows on the two stations and was fifth on cable for the night behind NFL-related shows.

The show was up 10 percent in viewers and up 26 percent in 18-49 from last week, against far stronger competition.

From one year ago, Raw was down nine percent in viewers and down 11 percent in 18-49. Last year’s episode featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and while not advertised ahead of time, word got out late and led to giant numbers even though last year’s show was on January 1 meaning it went against the Rose Bowl and later the Sugar Bowl games.

But factoring in the drop in homes getting USA, even those drops are just barely above the level of the drop in homes and both this year and last year had extremely strong football competition. Last year was also on a worse night overall, but numbers of shows with Dwayne Johnson are a different league.

Besides Raw no entertainment show on cable topped the 0.15 of 90 Day Fiance, so Raw well over tripled the highest non-NFL number.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.67 million
  • 9 p.m. 1.53 million

WWE Raw ratings down for Christmas week episode

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Due to the holiday season, ratings were delayed this week and are not complete, however WWE Raw on Monday averaged 1.45 million viewers with a 0.42 rating in 18-49.

All ratings are going to be lower than usual as is almost always the case this week. Aside from shows related to the Green Bay Packers vs. New Orleans Saints NFL game, Raw was the highest rated show on television on Monday.

The football game did below usual numbers as well, with 14.50 million viewers and a 3.22 in 18-49 between ESPN, which did 6.4 million viewers and a 1.85, and ABC which did 8.36 million viewers and a 1.37.

Raw was a taped show built around the Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre main event and was the next to the last episode ever on the USA Network.

Raw was fifth on cable behind four ESPN shows related to football.

It was down five percent in viewers and 11 percent in 18-49 from last week, which I’d attribute more to the holiday than anything else.

One year ago the show was a taped best of 2023 episode that did 698,000 viewers and a 0.19 in 18-49.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.45 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.46 million viewers

WWE Raw draws strong ratings for Saturday Night’s Main Event fallout

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Raw on Monday averaged 1.54 million viewers and drew a 0.48 rating in 18-49, which were very strong numbers going against two NFL games.

Of course, one of those games bombed. The Bears vs. Vikings game on ABC did 13.07 million viewers and a 3.11 in 18-49, which is a strong number. But the Falcons vs. Raiders game on ESPN did 4.07 million viewers and a 1.08 in 18-49, which may have been the lowest number a Monday night game has done in history. The total NFL viewers were 17.14 million and 4.19, while the prior week’s singular game did 18.07 million and 4.25. So Raw was up a lot against relatively similar numbers of NFL viewers which may have been a Saturday Night’s Main Event post-curiosity bump like usually happens after PPV shows.

The show was up 11 percent in viewers from last week and up 11 percent in 18-49 as well.

Raw beat everything but the NFL on all of television in 18-49 with The Neighborhood on CBS at 0.39 being the network high aside from football and Jesse Watters on Fox News at 3.39 million viewers and 0.18 being the cable high. Hannity did 2.52 million viewers and a 0.11 in 18-49 against hour two of Raw. The other highest show was the Holiday Baking Championship on The Food Network at 1.09 million viewers and 0.14 in 18-49.

From one year ago, Raw was down two percent in viewers and up two percent in 18-49. Factoring in the loss of cable homes, a more accurate percentage would be up five percent in viewers and up 12 percent in 18-49.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.55 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.51 million viewers

WWE Raw ratings drop against strong NFL number

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Monday night’s WWE Raw averaged 1.386 million viewers on the USA Network, down 18.9 percent from last week’s post-Survivor Series episode. It’s the lowest audience total for the show since September 23 when Raw was still three hours long.

In the 18-49 demo, Raw was third on cable and fifth on all of television in prime time with a 0.43 rating. That’s down 20.4 percent from last week and is the lowest rating the show has done in that category since October 28.

Monday Night Football viewership was way up from the previous week with the Dallas Cowboys playing. That Cowboys vs. Cincinnati Bengals game averaged more than 17 million viewers between ABC and ESPN and did a 4.06 rating in 18-49. Raw was the top-rated show on television aside from football programming.

The audience was very consistent with hour one drawing 1.385 million viewers and a 0.42 rating in 18-49 and hour two doing 1.386 million viewers and a 0.44.

As compared to the same week in 2023, Raw was down 5.5 percent in overall viewers and 6.5 percent in 18-49.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership totals and 18-49 demo ratings for Raw, along with the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was down 9.7 percent in overall viewers and 10.4 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE Raw ratings get post-Survivor Series boost

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

With a lower football audience due to the Denver Broncos vs. Cleveland Browns NFL game not airing on ABC or ESPN2, and strong angles with CM Punk, Seth Rollins & Sami Zayn and The New Day & Big E, Raw did its best numbers of the NFL season Monday night.

The episode, featuring Raw’s fallout from Survivor Series, averaged 1.71 million viewers and drew a 0.54 rating in 18-49.

The NFL game had 11.87 million viewers and a 3.15 in 18-49 on ESPN, down from last week’s 17.32 million viewers and 4.17 in 18-49 on the three stations.

Raw beat everything on television aside from the NFL-related programming on ESPN, putting it in fifth place on cable and on all of television. Instead of football, ABC aired Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (3.07 million viewers/0.33) and Press Your Luck (1.84 million/0.23).

The other top station was Fox News which did 3.51 million viewers/0.18 for Jesse Watters and 2.64 million/0.15 for Hannity. 90 Day The Last Resort on TLC was the No. 2 entertainment show at 874,000/0.14.

Raw was up 12 percent in viewers and up 16 percent in 18-49 from last week.

From the same week last year, it was up 11 percent in viewers and 10 percent in 18-49. But when you factor in homes no longer getting USA Network, the real percentage increases would be 19 percent in viewers and 25 percent in 18-49.

The peak of the show was the second quarter with the end of the Punk, Rollins & Zayn segment and the Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan vs. Kairi Sane & Iyo Sky match, which did 2.02 million viewers.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.82 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.60 million viewers

WWE Raw ratings down slightly from last week

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Monday’s WWE Raw averaged 1.51 million viewers and drew a 0.47 rating in 18-49, a figure in line with most of the recent weeks.

We don’t have complete rundowns due to the holiday week, but Raw beat everything on cable except NFL-related shows on ESPN. It was likely fifth on cable as the pre-show, kickoff show, the game, and post-game shows all do numbers higher than Raw each week.

The game was the Los Angeles Rams vs. Philadelphia Eagles, and it did 17.32 million viewers and a 4.17 in 18-49 between ESPN, ABC and ESPN2. The numbers were in line with the game last week that drew a 4.18 between the three stations.

Raw was down 0.4 percent in viewers from last week, as well as being down four percent in 18-49. The episode was headlined by Nia Jax vs. Bianca Belair for the person advantage in WarGames.

From one year ago, which was the episode after Survivor Series with the return of CM Punk to television, Raw was down 20 percent in viewers and 27 percent in 18-49, but that’s an unusual show. If you factor in homes lost by cable over the past year, the real difference would be down 14 percent in viewers and down 20 percent in 18-49, but that’s also three hours vs. two hours. And if you only take the first two hours from last year and adjusted two hours based on homes lost, it’s a 17 percent real drop.

Dave Meltzer’s AEW & WWE ratings analysis for last week’s shows

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

For the week of 11/11 to 11/17, in the cable entertainment category, Yellowstone on Paramount was first, followed by Raw, SmackDown, the debut of Landman on Paramount, and AEW Dynamite was fifth.

As far as overall in 18-49 on cable, Raw was 13th, behind five NFL related shows, two college football games, three NBA games, one college basketball game and Yellowstone. SmackDown was 22nd, lower than usual due to going against the Tyson-Paul fight. AEW Dynamite was 41st, even with its best number since late September.

Last year in the same week, Raw was first and AEW was fifth in entertainment and 15th and 25th overall. The main difference is that AEW was behind 13 FOX News shows during the week this year.

AEW Dynamite on 11/20, going against the Country Music Awards as well as the regular programming, did 640,000 viewers with a 0.20 (266,000 viewers) in 18-49 and an 0.12 in 18-34.

The CMA Awards on ABC did 6,092,000/0.81.

On cable, Dynamite was No. 5, behind two NBA games and two shows on FOX News. Chicago vs. Milwaukee NBA won the time slot at 1,217,000/0.35 but the later game after Dynamite was over won the night at 1,063,000/0.35 by 4,000 viewers. Jesse Watters did 3,734,000/0.25 for second place in hour one and Dynamite was third. In hour two, Dynamite was behind the NBA game but beat Hannity (2,972,000/0.19) by 3,000 viewers for second place. Other competition saw Real Housewives of Salt Lake City on Bravo at 444,000/0.16, Challenge on MTV at 341,000/0.15, Expedition Unknown on Discovery at 910,000/0.11, Sistas Series on BET at 744,000/0.09 and College Football on ESPN 2 with Ohio vs. Toledo at 414,000/0.08.

The Big Bang Theory lead-in did 973,000/0.17 which was the second highest entertainment show of the night behind Dynamite.

Dynamite was down 3.9 percent in viewers from last week, down 8.0 percent in 18-49 and up 15.6 percent in 18-34.

The show did 62,000 in men 18-34 (up 24.0 percent from last week), 27,000 in women 18-34 (same as last week), 122,000 in men 35-49 (down 17.6 percent) and 55,000 in women 35-49 (down 14.1 percent from last week).

The show only did 1.31 viewers per home and the audience was 69.2 percent male in 18-49.

From one year ago, it was down 23.9 percent in viewers, down 21.1 percent in 18-49 and down 21.9 percent in 18-34.  Factoring in homes lost by cable, the real drops were 19.1 percent in viewers, 13.1 percent in 18-49 and 14.0 percent in 18-34.

It opened with 747,000 viewers and 296,000 in 18-49 for Will Ospreay & Mark Davis & Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricochet vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher & Lance Archer & Brian Cage.

The rest of that match, promos with Darby Allin and the Death Riders and the Hurt Syndicate and Swerve Strickland angle did 671,000 viewers and 275,000 in 18-49.

Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly, a Conglomeration promo and Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida did 634,000 viewers and 249,000 in 18-49.

The rest of Shida vs. Statlander, Mercedes Mone & Kamille, Hurt Syndicate and Bobby Lashley vs. Cheeseburger & Joe Keys did 667,000 viewers and 273,000 in 18-49.

The post-match stuff with Hurt Syndicate, Sweve Strickland and Prince Nana, Mina Shirakawa and Mariah May and star of Darby Allin vs. Claudio Castagnoli did 649,000 viewers and 269,000 in 18-49.

The end of Allin vs. Castagnoli, Private Party, A.J. The Costco guy and Big Justice, Roderick Strong and MJF promos did 630,000 viewers and 263,000 in 18-49.

Angles with Daniel Garcia and Jack Perry, Chris Jericho and Tomohiro Ishii which involved The Conglomeration and Learning Tree and Jamie Hayster promo did 594,000 viewers and 255,000 in 18-49.

The Julia Hart video and Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta did 549,000 viewers and 246,000 in 18-49.

The end of that match and post-match with the Death Rider and Conglomeration did 597,000 viewers and 276,000 in 18-49.

NXT on 11/19 did 672,000 viewers with an 0.19 (250,000 viewers) in 18-49 and an 0.11 in 18-34.

The key to this being well above usual numbers when they don’t have main roster talent in key spots on the show, is the Chase U breakup angle. The Ridge Holland vs. Andre Chase main event for both a title shot and if Chase lost, he’d have to break up the group, in the main event slot, did 731,000 viewers and 0.21 which is much higher than main events usually do unless it’s a show with a major main roster star.

The biggest competition was Dancing with the Stars on ABC (5,187,000/0.75). CW once again beat FOX, which did an 0.14, to take fourth among the five networks. Cable competition included Cleveland vs. Boston NBA on TNT (1,691,000/0.50), Jessie Watters (4,038,000/0.27) and Hannity (3,322,000/0.20) on FOX News Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (796,000/0.20 and College Football with Miami of Ohio vs., Northern Illinois on ESPN (497,000/0.13).

The show was up 6.5 percent in viewers from the prior week, up 16.8 percent in 18-49 and even in 18-34.

The show did 1.37 viewers per home and 64.9 percent male in 18-49.

From one year ago on USA, the show was up 8.0 percent in viewers, up 1.6 percent in 18-49 and down 8.3 percent in 18-34.  

Raw on 11/18 did 1,516,000 viewers with an 0.49 (653,000 viewers) in 18-49 and an 0.32 in 18-34 for a taped show which is pretty impressive since it did the same in 18-49 for a taped show this week as last week even though last week had much easier NFL competition.

It was fourth on cable behind three NFL related shows on ESPN and second in the time slot.  The Houston Texans vs. Dallas Cowboys game did 8,622,000/1.46 on ABC, 7,490,000/2.42 on ESPN and 878,000/0.30 on ESPN 2 for a total of 16,990,000/4.18.  Raw beat everything on television for the day except the NFL.

The other competition was Jesse Watters (3,684,000/0.20) and Hannity (2,712,000/0.15) on FOX News, 90 Day Fiance Tow: Tel A on Bravo (932,000/0.18 and U.S. and USA vs. Jamaica soccer on TNT (273,000/0.11).

It was down 2.9 percent in viewers from last week, down 0.2 percent in 18-49 and up 3.2 percent in 18-49 even though football competition was tougher.

The first hour did 1,502,000 viewers and the second hour did 1,530,000 viewers.

The show did 1.41 viewers per home with 66.0 percent men in 18-49.

From one year ago, when the show went against a Chiefs vs. Eagles game that had more than 29 million viewers, it was up 3.9 percent in viewers, up 1.4 percent in 18-49 and down 3.0 percent in 18-34.  Factoring in homes lost by cable, the real percentage changes would be up 10.9 percent in viewers, up 11.5 percent in 18-49 and up 6.1 percent in 18-34. That makes sense given how much tougher the competition was last year.

Invincible Fight Girl, the Adult Swim show about a girl becoming a pro wrestler, airing at midnight, did 204,000 viewers and an 0.12 in 18-49. Aside from a Hallmark movie in prime time, it was the highest rated entertainment show on cable that day, beating Collision for that spot.

The taped Collision show on 11/16 did 356,000 viewers with an 0.11 (154,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 0.04 in 18-34.

The key was a bad number in men 18-34 but a good number in men 35-49.

Collision was No. 15 for the day on cable and fourth in the time slot was behind the UFC 309 prelims on FX (816,000/0.36), Arizona vs. Kansas State football on ESPN (849,000/0.21) and The Hallmark Christmas movie Jingle Bell Run (1,730,000/0.13).  It beat On Patrol Live, College Football on FS 1, College Football on the Big 10 network and College Basketball on the Big 10 Network. Network college football head-to-head saw Tennessee vs. Georgia on ABC (9,823,000/2.39), Oregon vs Washington on NBC (4,121,000/0.84) and Cincinnati vs. Iowa State on FOX (1,002,000/0.22).

The show was up 7.2 percent in viewers, up 14.1 percent in 18-49 and down 45.8 percent in 18-34.

The show did 12,000 in men 18-34 (down 66.7 percent), 14,000 in women 18-34 (up 16.7 percent), 95,000 in men 35-49 (up 50.8 percent) and 23,000 in women 35-49 (down 4.2 percent).  The show did 1.45 viewers per home and was 69.5 percent male viewers in 18-49.

From the prior year, with the show out of its regular slot so these comparisons don’t mean anything, It was up 31.9 percent in viewers, up 38.7 percent in 18-49 and down 38.1 percent in 18-34. The big increase was just because of comparing a show in its regular slot this year to one out of it last year.

Going against the Netflix broadcast of boxing, both wrestling shows on 11/15 did among their worst numbers ever. Really you can throw these numbers out regarding comparisons because they are total flukes.

Rampage on 11/15 did among its lowest numbers ever, doing head-to-head with the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano fight. It did 186,000 viewers with an 0.06 (75,000 viewers) in 18-49s and a record low 0.02 in 18-34.

Rampage didn’t crack the top 25 for the night.  In the time slot, it was seventh behind Memphis vs, Golden State NBA game on ESPN (1,027,000/0.24, extremely low for the Warriors on ESPN), Gutfeld on FOX News (2,819,000/0.17), Scare Tactics on USA with the SmackDown lead-in (380,000/0.15), Mexico vs. Honduras soccer on Univision Deportes (237,000/0.09), On Patrol Live on Reelz (496,000/0.08), and Marquette vs. Maryland college basketball on FS 1 (221,000/0.07against the first 30 minutes of Rampage).

It was down 21.5 percent from the prior week in viewers, down 16.7 percent in 18-49 and down 31.8 percent in 18-34.

It did 10,000 in men 18-34 (down 16.7 percent from last week), 5,000 in women 18-34 (down 50.0 percent), 52,000 in men 35-49 (up 18.2 percent from last week which is shocking given the competition and 8,000 in women 35-49 (down 66.7 percent).

The show did just 1.23 viewers per home and the audience was 82.7 percent male in 18-49, which is an incredibly high percentage for a wrestling show.

From one year ago, it was down 33.6 percent in viewers, down 38,0 percent in 18-49 and down 57.1 percent in 18-34. Factoring in homes lost by cable doesn’t make much of a difference as the declines were 28.9 percent in viewers, down 31.4 percent in 18-49 and down 52.9 percent in 18-34.

SmackDown did its lowest numbers ever for a show on the USA Network, but there were FS1 shows in recent years that did lower numbers.

The show did 1,234,000 viewers with a 0.32 (432,000 viewers) in 18-49 and a 0.20 in 18-34.

What’s notable is the numbers were way down even though the Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor fight didn’t even start until after SmackDown was over, which shows that a giant audience watched the entire boxing show and not just the top two fights.

SmackDown was No. 2 on cable and on all of television even with the lower than usual number, behind only the Los Angeles Lakers vs. San Antonio Spurs NBA game on ESPN that did 1,280,000 viewers and an 0.36 in 18-49.

The declines from last week would be entirely due to the fight, as it was down 19.7 percent in viewers, down 32.2 percent in 18-49 and down 25.9 percent in 18-34.

The show did 1.40 viewers per home with 64.6 percent male in 18-49.

It was down 44.1 percent in viewers from the same week last year, down 47.0 percent in 18-49 and down 50.0 percent in 18-34, but that’s meaningless given cable instead of network and the competition.

WWE Raw viewership down, 18-49 demo rating steady

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Monday night’s pre-taped episode of WWE Raw averaged 1.516 million viewers on USA Network, down 3.1 percent from last week. It’s the second-highest audience total for the show since October 21.

The first hour averaged 1.502 million viewers with the show increasing to 1.530 million for hour two. It’s the first time since October 14 that Raw had a second hour audience increase.

Raw finished third on the cable charts — and fifth on all of television — with a 0.49 rating in the 18-49 demo. The only programming to beat it was the NFL on ABC and ESPN as well as the pre-game show on both networks. This is the same rating Raw did last week, which ties the show’s second-best number in that category since August 23.

The Monday Night Football game between the Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys drew a 3.88 rating in 18-49 between ABC and ESPN with a total audience of over 16.1 million viewers.

As compared to the same week in 2023, Raw’s overall viewership was up 3.9 percent while its 18-49 rating was the exact same.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership totals and 18-49 demo ratings for Raw, along with the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 1.9 percent in total viewers and 4.3 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE Raw ratings up, only ranks behind NFL

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Raw last night did 1.56 million viewers and a 0.485 in 18-49, up from last week.

The show beat everything but ESPN NFL-related shows on television last night. Probably the biggest reason for the rise is that the Miami Dolphins vs. Los Angeles Rams game was only on ESPN instead of on three stations the week before, meaning it was down 41 percent in viewers and down 32 percent in 18-49 from last week, ending with 12.13 million viewers and a 3.38 in 18-49.

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

Fox News did 3.96 million and 0.25 for Jesse Watters in hour one, and 3.13 million and 0.22 for Hannity in hour two. The next highest-rated entertainment show of the night was the Holiday Baking Championships on the Food Network, which had 902,000 viewers and 0.13 in 18-49.

From one year ago, Raw was up seven percent in viewers and 13 percent in 18-49 even with the decrease in homes getting the USA Network. If you compare the first two hours from last year instead of all three, the gain is three percent in viewers.

Factoring the loss of homes by the USA Network over the past year, the real percentage gains were 14 percent in viewers and 24 percent in 18-49 although the NFL competition was also much tougher last year. But it’s still excellent gains.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.61 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.51 million viewers

WWE Raw ratings up, beats everything other than NFL

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE Raw on Monday averaged 1.47 million viewers and drew a 0.48 rating in 18-49, beating everything other than the NFL on television.

Raw was fourth for the night on cable and finished ahead of everything but Monday Night Football on network TV. The number has to be considered good because the game featured the Kansas City Chiefs, a top draw, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The game did 10.86 million viewers and a 1.92 in 18-49 on ABC, 8.79 million viewers and 2.79 in 18-49 on ESPN, and 977,000 viewers and 0.31 on ESPN2 for a total of 20.63 million viewers and a 5.02 in 18-49.

Raw was up three percent in viewers from last week (against both the NFL and the World Series), but up 14 percent in 18-49, so the show skewed much younger.

The next highest rated entertainment show, 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, did 631,000 viewers and 0.12 in 18-49 while Below Deck, a longtime hit that in the past would be competitive with Raw, was down to a 0.09 and 475,000 viewers.

Raw was down four percent in viewers and up three percent in 18-49 from the same week last year.  But factoring in the change in the cable universe, the true percentages are up two percent in viewers and up 13 percent in 18-49.

However, last year was a three-hour show. If you only take the first two hours last year vs. the same true audience rating with less homes this year, it’s actually down one percent, or basically the same.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.48 million
  • 9 p.m. 1.45 million

WWE Raw ratings down against NFL & World Series competition

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

WWE Raw last night did its fifth lowest viewership ever on the USA Network, going against an NFL game and game three of the World Series.

The show averaged 1.40 million viewers overall and drew a 0.42 rating in 18-49. It was expected this would be the least watched show of the year but it did beat an episode from September in 18-49.

Raw was the top rated entertainment show on all of television, beating everything not NFL and World Series related in 18-49. The World Series on Fox did 13.20 million viewers and a 3.10 in 18-49, as well as 429,000/0.11 on Fox Deportes. The New York Giants vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game did 7.05 million/1.20 on ABC, 5.61 million/1.95 on ESPN, and 682,000/0.22 on ESPN2. So the television totals would be 13.64 million and 3.21 for baseball and 13.34 million and 3.37 for football.

Raw was fourth on cable behind NFL shows and second in the time slot.

Raw was down eight percent in viewers and down 17 percent in 18-49 from last week.

The highest rated entertainment show on cable besides Raw was 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, which did 682,000/0.11

Last year’s show which also went against the NFL and the World Series was the third lowest in history, but that’s because this year didn’t have a third hour to take down the average or else it would have been lower. However, due to changes in cable, it’s still better off. Raw was up one percent in viewers year-over-year and down one percent in 18-49. But factoring in homes lost by the USA Network, it was up eight percent in viewers and up nine percent in 18-49.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.42 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.38 million viewers

WWE Raw ratings up despite going against two NFL games

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Going against two NFL games, but only one on television, Raw last night was up from last week doing 1.58 million viewers and a strong 0.51 in 18-49.

Besides shows related to the NFL, Raw was tied with The Voice as the next highest-rated show in 18-49, but obviously, a cable number being tied with a network number is far more impressive for the cable show.

Raw was fourth for the night on cable behind three NFL-related shows.

The Baltimore Ravens vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers game had 15.99 million viewers and a 4.71 in 18-49 which was 7.57 million viewers and 1.91 on ABC, 7.34 million viewers and 2.48 in ESPN and 1.08 million viewers and 0.32 on ESPN 2.

The No. 2 entertainment show on cable last was 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way on TLC which had 628,000 viewers and 0.11 in 18-49.

Raw was up three percent in viewers but up 17 percent in 18-49 from last week.

From one year ago, Raw was up seven percent in viewers and 13 percent in 18-49, but factoring in homes lost over the past year by cable, the real increases are 14 percent in viewers and 25 percent in 18-49.

The hour numbers were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.61 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.55 million viewers

WWE Raw ratings down slightly against NFL & MLB competition

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

WWE Raw on Monday night averaged 1.54 million viewers and drew a 0.44 rating in 18-49, which you’d have to consider a good showing given it was a taped show against both the Major League Baseball playoffs and NFL Monday Night Football.

The New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills NFL game did 17.24 million viewers and a 4.47 in 18-49 between ABC (8.43 million viewers and 1.55), ESPN (7.96 million/2.62) and ESPN2 (857,000/0.30). The New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians baseball playoff game did 3.82 million/0.94 on TBS and 119,000/0.03 on TruTV.

Raw was fifth on cable, behind three NFL-related shows and the baseball game. It beat all shows on network television other than the NFL-related programming.

Raw was down 0.5 percent in viewers from last week, with the taped show, plus last week had a World title match and was coming off a PPV. So it shows that being taped likely meant nothing. It was down seven percent in 18-49 from last week.

From one year ago, also against the NFL and baseball playoff competition, Raw was up four percent in viewers and down one percent in 18-49, but that’s misleading because it was a three-hour show. The first two hours were virtually identical with viewers as last year, but that’s a plus given cable homes have declined.

The No. 2 ranked entertainment show on cable was 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way on TLC that did 784,000 viewers and a 0.13.

The two hours for Raw were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.53 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.55 million viewers

WWE Raw ratings mostly steady despite return to two hours

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The first two-hour Raw in a dozen years on Monday averaged 1.55 million viewers with a 0.47 rating in 18-49.

The number was similar to last week even though it eliminated the lowest rated third hour from the average, and so while it was up a little in viewers and down overall in 18-49 from last week, it’s really an overall down number even coming off a highly anticipated Bad Blood PPV which saw The Rock and Goldberg involved.

Wrestlenomics was the first to report the number. The Kansas City Chiefs vs. New Orleans Saints game that included Taylor Swift shown frequently, did 15.8 million viewers and a 4.34 rating combined between ESPN and ESPN2. That’s a very strong number for a cable game that isn’t also broadcast on ABC. TBS and TruTV aired the New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals playoff game which did a combined 3.48 million viewers and a 0.83 in 18-49.

Raw was up two percent in viewers and down one percent in 18-49 from last week, but in just comparing the two hours, which is the best comparison, it was down one percent in viewers and down five percent in 18-49.

The Gunther vs.  Sami Zayn main event did 1.62 million viewers, far higher than main events had done in the third hour. The high point of the show was the CM Punk interview at 171 million viewers.

It was down one percent in viewers from the same week last year but up 12 percent in 18-49, showing again major changes and a younger audience makeup from one year ago. But it was down four percent in viewers from the first two hours last year, which is a more fair comparison. But homes getting USA Network are down far more than four percent, so it’s still realistically on the positive side.

The two hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.57 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.52 million viewers