Raw ratings slide from last two weeks despite Goldberg and fallout from Hell in a Cell (w/Keller’s Analysis)

Last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw, despite occurring the day after the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view and despite featuring Goldberg again, dropped to a 1.88 rating. The 1.88 is tied for the lowest rating of the fall season; the only lower rating was up against the U.S. Presidential Debate. Raw faced a better-than-average Monday Night Football game featuring the 5-1 Minnesota Vikings against the Chicago Bears.

But front-loading the Goldberg segment, Raw drew 2.747 million viewers in the first hour, but saw a slide the next two hours to 2.617 million and 2.436 million the next two hours. That’s a big dropoff for a third hour rating.

The October ratings average for Raw ended up at 1.982, just a tad above the September average of 1.928.

The male 18-34 demo rating two weeks ago was 1.57; it was a more typical 0.97 last night. The male 18-49 demo rating was 1.54 two weeks ago; it was a ore typical 1.09 last night.

Keller’s Analysis: This has to be regarded as a disappointment after two weeks in a row above the 2.0 mark, and having the advantage of being the day after the HIAC PPV and featuring Goldberg in his second appearance. The dropoff in third hour viewership is an indictment of Roman Reigns as a lead babyface attraction, but also a broader indication that a three hour WWE show is longer than most viewers are willing to watch in one sitting.