SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The Nov. 11 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw drew a 1.44 rating on USA Network among live and same-night-DVR viewers, among the lowest rating ever for the program. The only lower ratings were for holiday editions, specifically last year’s Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve editions. That is down from the 1.72 rating one year ago.
Raw was pre-taped in Manchester, England and went up against a competitive, marquee mid-season NFL match-up on ESPN between the undefeated San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. That might explain the steep drop-off in viewership as the show progressed down to 1.753 million viewers in hour three, the lowest hour of Raw ever.
The first-to-third hour dropped 605,000 viewers, one of only a handful of instances where Raw lost more than 600,000 viewers over the course of the three hours. In those instances, it was due to an unusually high number of first-hour viewers, as all of those third hours drew around 2.5 million viewers or more.
The third hour began with the Rusev-Lana-Bobby Lashley segment mid-stream, and closed with a six-man tag match with Humberto Carrillo & Ricochet & Randy Orton vs. The O.C., with two short matches in between.
Raw’s three hours finished in positions 4, 5, and 8 in terms of viewership on cable on Monday night in the targeted 18-49 demographic. The NFL game drew just under 16 million viewers. In the demo rating, Raw went from its typical 0.8 for hour one town to 0.7 for hour two and then 0.5 for hour three.
“…among the lowest rating ever for the program.”
“…the lowest hour of Raw ever.”
Yep, that Lana-Lashley-Rusev storyline’s really working. We need more of it!
I watched the football game. It was a classic for the ages. Unfortunately I’m a Niners fan.