Raw Rating: Massive dropoff in viewership from the first to the third hour, but overall rating beats year-ago number (w/Keller’s Analysis)

This week’s WWE Raw on USA Network drew a 2.03 rating, jumping above the 2.00 rating level for the first time since the Sept.6 episode. It was up from the 1.93 rating the week before and above the 10 week rolling average headed into the week of 2.0. It beat the year-ago rating, which was 2.01.

The hourly numbers were a real story, though, as the first hour drew 3.33 million viewers, the highest since Aug. 28. From there, they dropped to 2.97 million and 2.56 million, the lowest third hour number since Sept. 20. The dropoff from the first to the third hour was a whopping 775,000, the highest dropoff in the last 52 weeks and triple the average of 245,000.

Keller’s Analysis: Wow. The early interest in the show may have been based around “what happened to Roman Reigns” and what happened at TLC, but then dropped off sharply as the show progressed. Despite the third hour starting with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, and despite the hype for Kurt Angle announcing the Survivor Series Raw teams at the end, it didn’t hold viewers through the final Under Siege angle, which of course they couldn’t advertise.