PWTorch.com - WWE NEWS: Tough Enough Ratings Week 2 - sharp drop from Week 1, including key demographics, more details

WWE News
WWE NEWS: Tough Enough Ratings Week 2 - sharp drop from Week 1, including key demographics, more details

Jul 1, 2015 - 4:21:59 PM

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By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Tough Enough Audience Tracking

- June 30 (Week 2): The second episode of "Tough Enough" on USA Network scored a 0.73 rating, down from a 0.87 rating for the season premiere.

The episode drew 1.047 million viewers, down 13 percent from 1.209 million viewers last week.

It was a typical drop-off for Week 2 of a new season. However, the first episode started so modestly that the drop-off was not expected to be as pronounced, especially when WWE advertised main roster Roman Reigns for this week's episode during the previous night's Raw.

Drawing more than 1.0 million viewers will be key for Tough Enough staying out of the range of a typical "Modern Family" repeat that previously held the timeslot.

Concerning the key demographics, males 18-34 & m18-49 fell off the table, down 31 percent each from the season premiere. Also, adults 18-49 was down 20 percent.

- SOCIAL MEDIA: Nielsen did not release social media data for Tuesday's Tough Enough episode. This follows Nielsen not releasing data on Monday's Raw episode.

A representative told the Torch regarding Raw: "There are not any metrics available for yesterday’s episode, which is why it was not listed in the Top 5."

Caldwell's Analysis: Tough Enough isn't exactly off to a good start. Setting aside issues with the format of the show, being on a separate night of the week from Raw and coming at a time when Raw is experiencing historically low ratings has put the show behind the eight ball. Raw is not a strong lead-in right now, the overall WWE product feels like it's on summer break, and WWE has not highlighted reasons to care about the Tough Enough contestants during Raw to lead into Tuesday. Think about it - Tough Enough has Hulk Hogan, Daniel Bryan, and Chris Jericho on the same show. And they're drawing a 0.73 rating. Granted, they're not in roles the audience wants to see them in since they're not doing anything physical, but WWE has to come up with a different marketing approach to this show.