WWE Smackdown Ratings Report: Viewership up over last week, eight-week averages in core demo, year-to-year comparison

Last Friday’s (2/24) episode of WWE Smackdown on Fox drew an average of 2.408 million viewers and a 1.48 broadcast rating. The prior week drew 2.383 million viewers and a 1.47 rating. Through eight weeks this year, Smackdown has averaged 2.378 million viewers, so Friday’s viewership was 30,000 above that.

One year ago this week, Smackdown drew an average of 2.114 viewers. It averaged 2.198 million viewers through eight weeks. So Smackdown is up in viewership year-over-year 180,000 viewers or more than 8 percent.

The average rating through eight weeks this year is 1.43. One year ago, the average rating through eight weeks was 1.36.

In the core 18-49 demo, Smackdown last Friday drew a 0.62 rating, above the eight week average so far this year of 0.59 and above the year-ago rating of 0.57. One year ago, in the 18-49 demo, Smackdown averaged a 0.56 rating.

Smackdown dominated Friday’s broadcast network competitors in the 18-49 demo, with the closest rating being a 0.33 from a CBS scripted series “S.W.A.T.” and an episode of “Dateline” on NBC. CBS’s show nearly doubled Smackdown’s overall audience, drawing 4.689 million viewers, but most of them in the 50+ age range.