WWE Smackdown Rating & Audience Hit USA Network Lows Against MLB Playoffs, NCAA Football

WWE Smackdown’s rating and viewership took a hit last week against the Major League playoffs and college football. Friday’s episode scored a 0.42 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 1.378 million viewers per Wrestlenomics. Those numbers were down 14.3% and 16.6% respectively from the previous week’s 0.49 demo rating and audience of 1.652 million.

The demo rating and audience were both the lowest since the show moved to USA Network, beating the previous lows of a 0.45 and 1.494 million for the September 20th episode. The show was up against the Oregon vs. Purdue game on FOX (0.48 demo rating, 2.147 million viewers) and the American League playoffs game between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians on TBS (1.27/5.1 million).

Smackdown is averaging a 0.614 demo rating and 2.174 million viewers in 2024 to date, compared to a 0.608 demo rating and 2.303 million for the same point in 2023.