Raw Ratings: Strong first hour, sharp drop-off for third hour, up against MTV Video Music Awards, key metrics, plus Steve Austin viewership

Last night’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw on USA Network drew a 1.79 rating among live and same-night-DVR viewers, up from the 1.76 the week before. It’s right in line with the final August average of 1.80 and the year-to-date average of 1.78.

The first hour drew 2.637 million viewers, the fourth-highest first-hour ratings since last April. The second hour held steady with 2.686 million. The third hour had a sharp drop-off of one 400,000 viewers to 2.260 million, perhaps related to the MTV Video Music Awards show. MTV edged WWE in the key 18-49 demo. In that demo, MTV drew a 0.9 rating with 1.926 million total viewers. Raw’s first hour drew a 0.9 rating with 700,000 more total viewers. Raw finished in spots 2, 3, and 4 in the key demo rating.

One year ago Raw drew a 2.02 rating the last Monday in August. Two years ago it drew a 2.23 rating.

“Straight Up Steve Austin” drew 987,000 viewers with a 0.4 key adult demo rating, good enough for a top ten finish yet again in Monday cable ratings and close to last week’s rating.