Tag: WWE RAW ratings

The unannounced return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and a hyped Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre World title match led to Raw averaging 1.75 million viewers on Monday night with a 0.60 rating in 18-49, the best marks since the episode where CM Punk returned.

The competition was far tougher with the college football playoff semifinals, as the Michigan vs. Alabama Rose Bowl game did 27.2 million viewers and peaked at 32.8 million, a period against the early part of Raw. The Washington vs. Texas Sugar Bowl game, the other playoff semifinal, going against the last two hours, including The Rock’s appearance, did 18.4 million viewers.

It was the first week without NFL football against Raw, although the Rose Bowl game did better than NFL games would do in the first hour. The Sugar Bowl game did a number along the lines of what the NFL had been doing.

The number would have been higher had Johnson been advertised, as the only tease was a former WWE champion returning and there wasn’t much talk about it being Rock until a photo tease that showed Rock at the Rose Bowl with Nick Khan.

Raw was up 12 percent from the show two weeks ago (last week was a best of show), but up 27 percent in 18-49 and up 17 percent in 18-34.

From one year ago, the audience was up nine percent in viewers, but up 48 percent in 18-49 and up 58 percent in 18-34, showing again that Raw is delivering far more younger viewers than it was one year ago, but that people over 50 have remained way down since August.

Raw’s first hour number was actually down from the show two weeks ago, but the second hour after the Rose Bowl ended increased greatly.

The Johnson segment did 2.15 million viewers and a 0.79 rating in 18-49. The show dropped greatly from that point but did pick back up for the Rollins vs. McIntyre main event. The main event was way up from the first quarter and that’s almost unheard of.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.62 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.86 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.77 million viewers

Monday night’s episode of WWE Raw averaged 1.562 million viewers on the USA Network, up 6.5 percent from last week. It’s the largest audience total for the show since November 27 and is the second-largest viewership Raw has drawn against this season of Monday Night Football.

Raw drew a 0.47 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s up 2.2 percent from last week but is the second-lowest rating the show has done since November 13.

Raw averaged 1.639 million viewers and a 0.49 rating in hour one. That fell slightly to 1.629 million and a 0.48 in the second hour, then there was a larger drop to 1.419 million and 0.46 in the final hour.

As compared to the same week in 2022, Raw’s overall audience was down 8.4 percent while its 18-49 rating was up 9.3 percent, so the audience continues to skew much younger. It’s the 21st week out of the last 22 that Raw’s year-over-year audience was down, but it’s the ninth straight week the 18-49 rating has been up year-over-year. 

This was the last new Raw episode of 2023. Next week’s Christmas night edition of Raw is expected to be a best-of episode.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for Raw, as well as the 10-week averages in both categories. This week’s show was up 2.5 percent in overall viewers but down 2.1 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

Monday night’s episode of WWE Raw averaged 1.466 million viewers on the USA Network, down 4.4 percent from last week. It’s the lowest audience total for the show since November 17.

There were two Monday Night Football games airing head-to-head with Raw, which likely cost the show a lot of viewers. The ABC game between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers averaged 11.4 million viewers while the ESPN game featuring the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins averaged 7.3 million. Another 940,000 viewers watched the ManningCast on ESPN2 that went back-and-forth between the two games.

Raw drew a 0.46 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s down 6.1 percent from last week and the show’s lowest rating in that category since November 10.

The advertisement of a CM Punk appearance with him choosing which brand he would sign with likely kept this show from doing near record lows in both total viewers and 18-49.

As compared to the same week in 2022, Raw’s overall viewership was down 0.4 percent while its 18-49 rating was up 24.3 percent. It’s the eighth straight week the show has had a year-over-year increase in the key demo. The overall viewership has been down year-over-year 20 of the last 21 weeks, so the audience is skewing much younger in 2023.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for Raw, along with the 10-week averages in both categories. This week’s show was down 4.1 percent in overall viewers and down 4.2 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

Raw fell back to normal range after last week’s CM Punk and Randy Orton return episode, averaging 1.53 million viewers on Monday night and drawing a 0.49 rating in 18-49. It’s still tied for Raw’s second best 18-49 number this football season.

The Cincinnati Bengals vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game head-to-head did 16.45 million viewers and a 3.91 in 18-49. The game did 8.87 million and a 1.48 in 18-49 on ABC, 6.61 million and a 2.11 in 18-49 on ESPN, and 964,000 and a 0.32 on ESPN2.

Raw also went head-to-head and beat two NBA In Season Tournament games on TNT, with the Celtics vs. Pacers game doing 1.02 million viewers and a 0.36 in 18-49 and the Pelicans vs Kings against hour three doing 718,000 and a 0.27 in 18-49.

Raw was fifth on cable for the night, behind four shows on ESPN, and USA was behind only ESPN for the night.

Raw was going to be down from last week and was going to still be ahead of normal. The number was likely helped by people expecting Orton or Punk on the show even though neither were advertised.

Raw was down 19 percent in viewers from last week, down 26 percent in 18-49, and down 20 percent in 18-34.

From one year ago, viewers were down 3,000 but 18-49 was up 19 percent and 18-34 was up 55 percent, so the audience has changed greatly, a huge drop with people over 50 but increases with younger viewers. Factoring in the losses of cable homes, the real comparison would be up five percent in viewers, up 31 percent in 18-49, and up 71 percent in 18-34.

The return of C.M. Punk and Randy Orton to Raw on Monday was largely expected to lead to monster ratings, and it had the most viewers since the Raw after SummerSlam and highest 18-49 number since the Raw after WrestleMania.

The 1,884,000 viewers on average was about 400,000 higher than recent shows against the NFL and the 0.65 18-49 rating was up even more significantly from the numbers against the NFL season.

At press time we don’t have the NFL number, but the Vikings-Bears game was expected to be way down from the prior week. We also don’t have Raw’s rankings in the standing but Raw obviously beat everything on cable except NFL related programming. The growth was biggest with men 18-34 at 45 percent.

The show was up 29 percent in ratings from last week, up 35 percent in 18-49 and up 44 percent in 18-34.

Even though Punk was the key reason for the ratings increase, and his segment grew 117,000 viewers from the prior segment in total viewers but 128,000 in 18-49 meaning essentially older viewers actually tuned out more than in but 18-49 viewers came back for that final segment.

The show had the usual ratings pattern of declines so Punk didn’t change the pattern or have near the high point, but these days the main event being the high point is extremely rare. It was clearly Orton’s return that was also a major factor. The Orton segment that opened the show did a show high 2.06 million viewers and an 0.73. The Punk promo in the worse position of ending the show did 1.77 milln and 0.66. If the spots were switched, most likely Punk at first would have done as big or bigger, and Orton last would not have done as well. Orton vs. Dominik Mysterio was actually the low point of the show.

From one year ago, the show was up 14 percent in viewers, up 61 percent in 18-49 and up 65 percent in 18-34. Those comparisons are even more impressive when you consider the homes that have dropped USA over the past year.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 2.00 million
• 9 p.m. 1.89 million
• 10 p.m. 1.77 million

In an amazing stat, Raw, going against the most-watched football game of the season and the most-watched Monday night game in 27 years, pulled out its largest 18-49 rating since this year’s football started.

Raw averaged 1.46 million viewers with a 0.49 rating in 18-49. The viewership number was down 8,000 from last week, which in and of itself would be considered a significant win, but the 18-49 number had major increases of male viewers.

The Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rematch was expected to do major numbers. The 28.96 million viewers on television alone, not including streaming, consisted of 15.55 million on ABC, 11.49 million on ESPN, and 1.92 million on ESPN2. The 18-49 numbers are not available at press time.

Raw was down one percent in viewers but up 12 percent in 18-49 and up nine percent in 18-34 from last week.

The key was that Raw started out strong in the first hour and dropped, but even in the third hour the 18-49 audience never fell below a 0.45.

It was down 11 percent in viewers from last year, but up 19 percent in 18-49 and up 16 percent in 18-34.

The Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso main event for the man advantage in War Games did 1.34 million viewers in the final quarter.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.62 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.44 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.32 million viewers

Raw last night averaged 1.47 million viewers and drew a 0.44 rating in 18-49, down from the prior week largely because football pulled stronger numbers this week.

The Denver Broncos vs. Buffalo Bills game did 17.68 million viewers and a 4.49 in 18-49, up 22 percent in viewers and up 21 percent in 18-49 from last week. The breakdown was 9.21 million viewers and a 1.60 in 18-49 on ABC, 7.34 million and 2.41 in 18-49 on ESPN, and 1.12 million and 0.38 in 18-49 on ESPN2.

Raw was fifth for the night on cable, trailing four NFL-related broadcasts on ESPN.

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

The show did its normal pattern with each hour down now that daylight savings time is over. But there was a rebound late in the third hour and the Damian Priest & Finn Balor vs. Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso Tag Team title match at 1.39 million viewers was the highest of the past few weeks.

Raw was down 11 percent in viewers from last year, but up 0.3 percent in 18-49 and down four percent in 18-34. But the younger numbers are skewed because of fewer homes getting USA Network and 18-34 and 18-49 would be up significantly from last year factoring that in.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.59 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.45 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.36 million viewers

Raw last night did what I’d consider a great number considering competition from game seven of the Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers American League Championship Series and a San Francisco 49ers vs. Minnesota Vikings NFL game.

Raw averaged 1.48 million viewers with an even more impressive 0.46 rating in 18-49, with the ratings bolstered by a major increase in 18-34.

Raw was seventh for the night on cable, trailing four NFL-related shows and two baseball playoff-related shows.

The opposition saw the 49ers vs. Vikings game do a combined 18.61 million viewers and 4.91 rating in 18-49, broken down as 7.34 million/2.14 on ESPN, 10.20 million/1.98 on ABC, and 1,068,000/0.39 on ESPN2.

The Astros/Rangers game did 9.53 million/2.29 in 18-49 on Fox and FS1, broken down as 6.77 million viewers and a 1.64 in 18-49 on Fox and 2.76 million/0.65 on FS1.

Both games were head-to-head with Raw. In addition, the end of the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Philadelphia Phillies game on TBS went against the first quarter of Raw and did 4.55 million viewers and a 1.07 rating in 18-49.

Next week, going against the World Series and the NFL, is the toughest week on paper, but Raw as of late has been doing above what it did the first few weeks against the NFL.

Raw was down only 7,000 viewers from last week, and it was even up two percent in 18-49 entirely due to 18-34 gains, and up 20 percent from last week in 18-34.

From one year ago, the audience was down due to Raw’s drop with people over 50 that dates back to August. But it’s well ahead in the key demos. Viewership was down 10 percent from last year, but 18-49 was up four percent and 18-34 was up 21 percent. Factoring in homes lost by USA Network over the past year, the real percentages would be down five percent with viewers but up 14 percent in 18-49 and up 33 percent in 18-34.

The show did a significant third-hour drop with the key match being Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.57 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.51 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.35 million viewers

WWE Raw last night drew the most viewers the show has done since the start of the NFL season, but the 18-49 number declined significantly from last week. The show did face much tougher competition last night.

Raw averaged 1.56 million viewers and drew a 0.43 rating in 18-49 going against the Raiders-Packers Monday Night Football game as well as baseball playoff games.

The football game did 7.18 million viewers/2.37 on ESPN, 9.17 million viewers/1.78 on ABC, and 1.04 million viewers/0.39 on ESPN2. In total, the game did 17.38 million viewers and a 4.55. That’s compared to the 16.59 million/4.40 that Monday Night Football did last week.

The difference is the two playoff baseball games on TBS, with the Philadelphia vs. Atlanta game against the first hour doing 3.14 million/0.85 and Arizona vs. Los Angeles against the final two hours doing 2.22 million/0.55.

WWE usually will have a bump coming off a PPV event. and Raw was up three percent in viewers from last week, but it was down 11 percent in 18-49 and down 20 percent in 18-34. The baseball factor is probably related to the decline from last week with younger viewers but even with the competition Raw had a marked increase with people over 50.

The episode peaked in the opening segment with Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre and had the usual ratings pattern for the show. The Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn main event did 1.40 million viewers.

From one year ago, Raw was down 15 percent in viewers, down 22 percent in 18-49, and down 20 percent in 18-34. That number was unusually large since there was a DX reunion, plus a strong tease of Bray Wyatt’s TV return that boosted the ratings of the show last year (which wasn’t delivered on that episode). Raw episodes this year have mostly been way up with younger viewers than the same week last year so this was an aberration.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.62 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.61 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.45 million viewers

Raw last night did its best numbers since the start of the NFL season, averaging 1.51 million viewers and drawing a 0.48 rating in the 18-49 demo.

Football numbers are not available at press time but ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 all had the same Seattle Seahawks vs. New York Giants game, rather than two different games as has been the case the past two weeks or a monster game like in week one.

Raw started out strong but had a bigger third hour drop than has been the case in recent months with the Gunther vs. Tommaso Ciampa main event. The main event did 1.35 million viewers.

The first hour was far above what has been the case since football started, but the third hour was in the same realm.

Raw was up three percent in viewers, up 12 percent in 18-49, and up 33 percent in 18-34 from last week, so the growth skewed younger.

The strongest gains were with men 18-34.

The Raw audience being younger is more obvious when comparing the show with one year ago. While viewers were down six percent from last year, the 18-49 rating was up 17 percent and the 18-34 rating was up 49 percent even with the decline of homes that get USA Network.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.63 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.57 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.39 million viewers

Raw last night, which went against NFL games on both ABC and ESPN, was up in viewers over the prior two weeks but down in 18-49.

The show averaged 1.47 million viewers and drew a 0.43 rating in 18-49.

Raw was eighth on cable behind seven NFL-related shows on ESPN and ESPN2.

The Philadelphia Eagles-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game on ABC did 13.72 million viewers and a 3.84 in 18-49. The Los Angeles Rams-Cincinnati Bengals game did 7.69 million viewers and a 2.29 on ESPN and 1.30 million viewers and a 0.43 on ESPN2. The 22.70 million football audience and 6.56 in 18-49 compares to 22.30 million viewers and 6.37 last week, so the football competition was actually tougher this Monday.

Raw was up 10 percent in viewers from last week and 18-49 was down two percent while 18-34 was down five percent.

The total viewers were the best so far this season on Monday against the NFL, but still below what Raw was doing one year ago. The show continues to draw a higher percentage of younger viewers than last year, particularly men, consistent with all WWE programming.

The show started higher than it did the past two weeks but had a bigger third hour drop with a main event of Damian Priest & Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles.

From one year ago, Raw was down 12 percent in viewers, down four percent in 18-49, and down three percent in 18-34. Given the drop in cable homes from last year, the real changes would be seven percent down in viewers, but four percent up in 18-49 and six percent up in 18-34, so the drops from last year were viewers over the age of 50.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.55 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.53 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.32 million viewers

Raw had it tough last night going against two different NFL games, one on ABC and another on ESPN.

That was offset by the fact that the buzz for the company was up after big numbers this past week for NXT and SmackDown and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s surprise return on Friday night.

The result was that Raw did the lowest total viewership the show has ever done for a regular episode in its history, but still had a substantial increase in the 18-49 demo and in particular 18-34.

NFL numbers are not available at press time but this will be updated later in the day.

Raw averaged 1.33 million viewers with a 0.44 rating in 18-49.

It was down two percent in viewers from last week, but up nine percent in 18-49 and up 22 percent in 18-34. The real growth was men 18-34 which would be a number attributable to curiosity following Johnson’s appearance as much as anything else.

Hour three hit another all-time low but the Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso match did pick up numbers at the end.

From last year, Raw was down 15 percent in viewers also against football, down one percent in 18-49 (again because of a younger audience skew), and up 13 percent in 18-34.

This continues the show’s pattern of the past month-plus where younger viewers remain strong but over 50 viewers are now hitting all-time lows.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 1.37 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 1.37 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 1.26 million viewers