Smackdown Rating: How did show built around Undertaker special appearance at MSG do, key comparisons to Fox broadcast viewership as they head to new Friday night era

Last night’s WWE Smackdown (9/10) drew a 1.55 rating, a bit above the rolling ten-week average headed into this week of 1.50. Undertaker was featured in advertising for the show, which also featured the King of the Ring semi-finals with a late change due to Elias’s injury leading to Shane McMahon injecting himself into the open slot.

Viewership was 2.061 million, under Raw’s first two hours but beating Raw’s third hour.

One year ago, Smackdown drew a 1.70 rating and two years ago it drew a 1.93 rating.

In the key 18-49 demographic, Smackdown topped Tuesday night’s cable competition with a 0.6 rating, edging out no. 2 ranked show “ESPN Original Documentary”; 30 for 30: Rodman: For Better or Worse,” which drew a 0.5 rating and barely over half the total viewership (1.073 million). “Teen Mom” on MTV finished third with a 0.5 demo rating. “Growing up Christley” on USA finished sixth for the night with a 0.3 demo rating and 950,000 viewers.

For comparison, Fox broadcast network last Friday drew 980,000 viewers in the 8 p.m. ET time slot and Master Chef drew 940,000 hours in the 9 p.m. ET hour. So Smackdown will likely more than double Fox’s Friday viewership out of the gate. The NFL game on Fox last Thursday night drew over 18 million viewers, though. Fox’s Wednesday night shows drew 3.16 million (“Master Chef”) and 1.89 million (“BH90210”). So Friday sets a low bar, but Smackdown will easily be among the lowest first-run original programs when compared to their other stronger weeknight prime time line-up.

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