WWE Smackdown’s “season premiere” final rating ties for best in key demo, viewership down from last year, key stats and perspective

Last Friday’s WWE Smackdown on Fox, billed as the “Season Premiere,” drew 2.124 million total viewers (up significantly from the preliminary overnight ratings released Saturday). That’s essentially flat with the prior four weeks – about 55,000 down from last week’s Draft, but 14,000 above the Sept. 25 viewership.

One year ago on Fox, Smackdown drew 2.545 million viewers. So this week’s show is down 421,000 or roughly 16.5 percent.

In the key demo, it drew a 0.56 rating, and it tied for the best demo rating among all broadcast network shows on Friday night, tied with ABC’s “Shark Tank.”

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