Raw Rating: Post-Evolution episode without Roman Reigns matches last week’s rating, but differences in hourly trends, the key metrics compared to NFL

Last night’s episode of Raw – airing a week after Roman Reigns announced his leave of absence to battle leukemia and the day after the all-women WWE pay-per-view event – drew the same rating as last week, 1.74, in the Nielsen Media Research ratings according to our industry source with access to detailed ratings info.

First hour viewership of 2.723 million was better than last week’s 2.609, but it dropped more sharply from there than last week did with 2.455 million viewers compared to 2.622 million viewers last week, and then another big drop to 2.237 million viewers for the final hour compared to 2.413 million viewers last week.

The October average rating was 1.70, down from September’s average 1.81. Last October the average Raw rating was 1.96, down only slightly from the September 2017 average of 1.99. So this year, amidst the Saudi Arabia controversy, Raw lost 0.11 in ratings compared to a 0.03 ratings drop last year from September to October.

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The average rating this year is 2.02 so far compared to 2.10 last year through this week. It averaged above 2.25 two years ago through this week.

In the key demographic of 18-49 year olds, Raw’s first hour drew a 1.0 rating and ranked no. 4 below NFL coverage on ESPN holding the top three spots, according to TV By The Numbers. The actual Monday Night Football game drew a 3.5 rating. WWE’s second and third hours finished no. 5 and no. 7 for the night among all above shows. VH1’s Love & Hop Hop Hollywood was tied for the no. 5 spot with a 0.9 rating.

Six political talk shows on MSNBC and Fox News drew more viewers than Raw, so in total viewers, Raw finished no. 9, 10, and 11 in the rankings among all viewers.

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