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Bobby Lashley defeated The Miz on RAW last night to capture the WWE Championship for the very first time. Did this title change affect RAW's viewership and ratings this week? Not really.
According to Showbuzz Daily, this week's WWE RAW brought in 1.884 million viewers, slightly down from 1.889 million. RAW was focused on teasing the WWE Championship match between Lashley and The Miz all evening, a strategy that might have hurt overall viewership in the show's final hour.
WWE saw a very slight decrease in their viewership this week. RAW, once again, continued the trend of not being able to hit the two million viewer range in any of the three hours. However, this week's show actually gained viewership in hour two.
WWE started the show with 1.916 million. It rose to 1.918 million in hour two but dropped to 1.817 million by the end of the evening. The second attempt at Lashley vs. The Miz could have soured some of the WWE Universe and made them change the channel.
WWE RAW once again dominates cable for Monday
When it comes to the all-important 18-49 demo, WWE RAW saw a small increase this week with a 0.58, up from 0.57. With a slight rise in the demo and a drop in the viewership, the company should be pleased because the demo now means more than the viewership than it ever has before.
The 18-49 demo also followed the same pattern that the viewership did throughout the evening. It started at 0.58 in hour one and rose to 0.60 in hour number two, before hour three ended at 0.57.
The countdown clock mechanic is proving successful in building an audience. However, when it's overdone like last night, the WWE Universe quickly becomes frustrated and tunes out. Balance and payoffs in the future with this concept will be key.
For the second week in a row, WWE impressively took all three top spots on cable on Monday. You can't do better than that no matter how you look at it.
WWE RAW opened this week with a pay-per-view-worthy matchup between Drew McIntyre and Sheamus. If you didn't see it, go out of your way to check it out. The show closed with the WWE Championship Lumberjack match between The Miz and Bobby Lashley.
What did you think of this week's edition of WWE RAW? Let us know in the comments section below.
