What's the story?
As reported by WrestlingInc, the viewership statistics following WWE Fastlane have been revealed. On average the show drew 3.216 million viewers, which is actually 4% up from last week's total despite many fans thinking it would drop following the reaction to Fastlane.
In case you didn't know...
The viewership numbers tend to be released a day or two following Raw, and in recent months the show has been suffering in comparison to SmackDown - which actually overtook it in the ratings one week. Thankfully, they're back above a 3 million average which tends to be their aim these days.
The heart of the matter
The first hour of the show, reportedly drew 3.318 million people, with the second hour drawing 3.380 million and the third drawing just 2.950 million viewers. That's quite a staggering drop for the third hour, especially considering the anticipation for an Undertaker appearance. Raw was #2 on cable television for the night in viewership, in addition to being #2 in the 18-49 demographic.
What's next?
As the Road to WrestleMania continues to heat up, it seems all the more likely that Raw's numbers will continue to improve considering how many high profile storylines will be included in the programming. With that being said, the third hour continues to be a problem that the company need to start addressing - potentially by formatting the show in a different way.
Sportskeeda's take
Considering how many different avenues WWE have when it comes to revenue, this doesn't worry us all too much. In fact, we're instead choosing to focus on the fact that the overall average viewership is actually the joint highest it's been in the last five weeks.
Things can only improve from here and it's obvious that the brand split is doing some real good for the company, as there was a point where Raw's numbers were just continuing to drop with no sign of stopping. Good job, Vince.
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