Smackdown Rating: Perspective on this week’s rating compared to yearly average and year-ago number (w/Keller’s Analysis)

WWE Smackdown Live drew a 1.79 rating last night, down from last week’s rating, but not too far off the 2017 average headed into this week of 1.85. It popped a 1.94 rating last week, up from the 1.75 rating the week before.

This week’s rating was only slightly above last year’s same-week rating of 1.71. The 2016 average to this point was 1.78 last year, and the 2017 average to this point is 1.85, up 4 percent.

Total live and same night DVR viewership was 2.628 million, down from the 2.738 million last week, but above the 2.566 million the week before.

Keller’s Analysis: They did nothing at all to promote or frame the main event between The Usos and American Alpha as important; had they, maybe the viewership would have been better over the course of two hours. They did hype the Randy Orton promo, which likely helped second hour viewership. The “hook” of what A.J. Styles might do next or whether Shane McMahon would go to the hospital was another implied hook.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RELATED ARTICLE: Raw Ratings: This week’s Raw rating has surprising and unusual statistics, with likely explanation (w/Keller’s Analysis)