WWE Smackdown Rating Dips, Viewership Hits 2022 Low

The final rating for last week’s Smackdown was down a bit from the previous week, while the viewership hit a low for the year. Friday night’s episode drew a 0.43 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 1.878 million viewers per Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston. Those numbers are down 4.4% and 7.5% from the previous week’s 0.45 demo rating and audience of 2.031 million.

The demo rating was the lowest since the April 29th episode’s 0.38. Meanwhile, the audience was the worst for 2022 to date for the show. The last time a first-run episode on FOX was lower was the July 2nd, 2021 episode that did 1.861 million. Smackdown led the night about broadcast networks, but like AEW Rampage was of course trounced (as has been the norm as of late) by the NBA playoffs. The conference finals on ESPN scored a 2.41 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 7.188 million viewers.

Smackdown is averaging a 0.52 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 2.135 million viewers for 2022 to date, compared to a 0.574 and 2.151 million for the same time period in 2021.