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The struggle to grow and obtain new viewers while maintaining your current viewership is one WWE SmackDown, RAW, NXT, and every other entertainment and sports product deals with on a regular basis. Companies and enterprises always need to attract new eyeballs to their product.
Wrestling is a bit more complicated due to having no off-season, and WWE is particularly complex due to the vast amount of programming it offers. World Wrestling Entertainment currently runs seven hours of primetime television in the United States each week, with even more available internationally and through streaming platforms.
WWE SmackDown typically airs on FOX each Friday while NXT and RAW air on the USA Network. The blue brand is occasionally pre-empted due to sports coverage, and this past week was an example of that. As a result of being preempted, WWE SmackDown aired on the much smaller FS1 network instead of FOX.
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While each show did impressive numbers the prior week, WWE SmackDown ultimately had the most viewers with an impressive 2.31 million, according to WrestleNomics. With a new network now in play, which show pulled in the most eyeballs this past week?
Below is a rundown of WWE's television ratings this past week.
#3. Monday Night RAW on October 24th, 2022
The October 24th, 2022 edition of Monday Night RAW featuring Bayley vs. Bianca Belair in the main event brought in 1.641 million viewers, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics. The show also featured a rating of .45 in the coveted 18-49 key demographic.
This number is down considerably from the prior week's 1.824 million, with the company regularly battling strong sports competition. The 1.641 million number is also slightly down from last year when Monday Night RAW had 1.658 million viewers. You can check out the tweet revealing the ratings below.
This edition of Monday Night RAW featured the shocking return of Nikki Cross, seemingly returning to her Twisted Sister gimmick. She attacked IYO SKY, Dakota Kai, Bayley, and Bianca Belair to close the show, even taking out a referee in the process.
The show also featured Karl Anderson vs. Finn Balor and Austin Theory vs. Mustafa Ali, among other matches.
#2. NXT on October 25th, 2022
The October 25th, 2022 edition of NXT featuring JD McDonagh vs. Ilja Dragunov in the main event had about 716,000 viewers, according to Brandon Thurston. The program had a .15 in the 18-49 key demo. According to Brandon, the show was down by 18% in the key demo from the week prior when NXT went head-to-head with AEW Dynamite.
You can check out Brandon Thurston's Tweet revealing the viewership for this week's show below.
While the key demo is down, viewership has improved since last week when NXT only had 676,000 viewers. Unfortunately, the number has dropped since last year. NXT's weekly program on October 26th, 2021 was a Halloween Havoc special with a viewership of 746,000. Halloween Havoc was a premium live event this year as opposed to being a special televised event.
This week's edition of NXT featured the fallout from the NXT Halloween Havoc 2022 event. JD McDonagh clashed with Ilja Dragunov, there was a surprise appearance from RAW's R-Truth, and WWE SmackDown's Shotzi was in action against Lash Legend.
#1. WWE SmackDown on October 28th, 2022
The October 28th, 2022 edition of WWE SmackDown had only 835,000 viewers. This special episode aired on FS1 instead of FOX due to preemption and the channel change led to a delay in the ratings.
FS1 is a much less popular and less accessible channel compared to the much larger FOX station, so a significant drop was expected. You can check out Brandon Thurston's Tweet revealing the viewership below:
This number is obviously way down from the previous week's 2,163,000 overnight viewership for WWE SmackDown. The blue brand aired on FS1 on October 29th, 2021 and had a final number of 1,032,000 viewers.
The latest episode of WWE SmackDown featured the return of Emma after five years. The Australian star battled WWE SmackDown Women's Champion Ronda Rousey when The Baddest Woman On The Planet made an open challenge to any female superstar.
WWE SmackDown also featured a segment from Bray Wyatt (who was once again interrupted by Uncle Howdy), more drama with The Bloodline, and Karrion Kross in action against Madcap Moss.
The verdict: which show won the viewership battle for the week?
The final verdict is that Monday Night RAW handily won the viewership battle for the past week. Had WWE SmackDown aired on FOX as it typically does, the blue brand likely would have come out on top.
Regardless, the red brand reigned supreme for a week featuring several numbers down year-over-year and week-over-week. Hopefully, more viewers will be tuning in for the upcoming batch of shows.
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