WWE Smackdown Rating Hits Five-Month Low

– The rating for this week’s episode of Smackdown dipped to the lowest point since early summer. Tuesday’s episode brought in a 0.73 demo rating, down 9% from last week’s 0.8. The audience of 2.32 million was additionally down 6% from 2.467 million last week. Those numbers both represent the lowest points for the show since the June 13th episode brought in a 0.63 demo rating and 2.072 million viewers.

In large part, the heavy drop seems due to a heavy slate of sports games. The 8 PM ET NBA game between the Celtics and Cavs won the night with a 2.53 demo rating and 5.598 million viewers. It was followed by the 10:57 PM ET game between the Rockets and Warriors (1.93/4.249 million). Sports also dominated the #3 and 4 slots with baseball; the NLCS game was at #3 with 1.84 and 6.008 million viewers at 8:57 PM ET, following by the ALCS game at 5 PM with a 1.16 and 4.742 million. Smackdown was all the way down at #9 per Showbuzz Daily, behind American Horror Story, the ALCS post-game show, The Mane Event and Inside the NBA.