6/6 Raw TV Quarter-Hour Ratings – Cena-Styles huge audience, what happened in the third hour?

WWE Raw on Monday, June 6 included an historical second-to-third-hour decline in TV viewership.

The quarter-hour ratings indicate that Raw peaked in a big way at the top of the second hour for the John Cena-A.J. Styles exchange. Then, the third hour started very poorly and never recovered.

WWE broke from the recent formula of putting their most-important content at the top of the third hour to try to save the hour. Instead, Cena-Styles went at the top of the second hour to maximize viewership. The feud built on last week’s opening exchange…

• 5/30 Raw – Q9 (Cena-Styles): 1.68 m18-49 rating / 1.056 million viewers
• 6/6 Raw – Q5 (Cena-Styles): 1.86 m18-49 rating / 1.173 million viewers

The surge in Q5 viewership led to Raw’s second hour hitting a two-month high point and the overall m18-49 demographic increasing one-tenth of a rating from last week.

Then, the third hour started with a poorly-presented Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose match. Even watching the broadcast live, it felt like a cold match with both men already in the ring without lead-in and nothing on the line.

The rest of the hour had no chance and the audience did not come back for the over-run in the “fourth hour” of Raw for New Day vs. The Club.

June 6 Raw – Top Segments

(1) John Cena-A.J. Styles confrontation (Q5 – top of the second hour).

(2) Enzo Amore & Big Cass, then facing The Vaudevillains (Q6 – follow-through from Q5).

(3) Opening Segment with six dudes on ladders, Teddy Long, and Stephanie McMahon. (Q1).

June 6 Raw – Audience Flow

• First Hour: 3.371 million viewers
• Second Hour: 3.490 million viewers (two-month high)
• Third Hour: 2.903 million viewers (16.8% decline – largest drop in three-hour Raw history)
• AVERAGE: 3.254 million viewers

• First Hour: 1.47 m18-49 rating
• Second Hour: 1.63 m18-49 rating
• Third Hour: 1.36 m18-49 rating (16.6% decline – matching overall audience)
• AVERAGE: 1.48 m18-49 rating

***

PWTorch received a quarter-hour and minute-by-minute break down in the bellwether males 18-49 demographic…

June 6 Raw – M18-49 Break Down

OVERALL SHOW AVG.: 1.48 rating / 932,000 viewers

– Q1: 1.59 rating / 1.001 million viewers

• The opening segment peaked with 1.139 million viewers at 8:12 p.m. for the end of the segment before break.

– Q2: 1.37 rating / 862,000 viewers

– Q3: 1.44 rating/ 908,000 viewers

– Q4: 1.48 rating/ 931,000 viewers

HOUR AVG.: 1.47 rating / 926,000 viewers

– Q5: 1.86 rating / 1.173 million viewers (26% increase from Q4)

• John Cena and A.J. Styles dominated the show.
• The peak audience of the segment and the show was 1.298 million viewers at 9:11 p.m. at the climax of the promo exchange.
• Last week’s Q9 segment with Cena-Styles drew a 1.68 rating / 1.056 million viewers.
• The historical comparison is Daniel Bryan’s retirement speech on the February 8 Raw.
  • The Q14 over-run for Bryan’s speech scored a 1.86 m18-49 rating and averaged 1.173 million m18-49 viewers.

– Q6: 1.70 rating/ 1.069 million viewers

• Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. The Vaudevillains drew the second-highest audience of the show building on the Cena-Styles momentum.

– Q7: 1.56 rating / 980,000 viewers

• The end of the Alberto Del Rio vs. Sami Zayn match was the last time Raw topped 1.0 million viewers for the rest of the show. No minute from Q8 to the over-run reached 1.0 million.

– Q8: 1.41 rating / 888,000 viewers

HOUR AVG.: 1.63 rating / 1.028 million viewers

– Q9: 1.45 rating / 914,000 viewers (minimal 2.8% increase)

• From here, the show kept falling all the way to the over-run…

– Q10: 1.38 rating / 872,000 viewers

– Q11: 1.31 rating / 823,000 viewers

– Q12: 1.30 rating / 817,000 viewers

HOUR AVG.: 1.36 rating / 856,000 viewers

– OVER-RUN: 1.29 rating / 814,000 viewers

OVERALL SHOW AVG.: 1.48 rating / 932,000 viewers