WWE Smackdown Rating Down To Four-Year Low, Audience Slips

Last week’s WWE Smackdown saw its rating hit a four-year low point, with the audience down as well. Friday’s episode brought in a 0.23 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 1.030 million viewers per Programming Insider. Those numbers are down 34.3% and 16.8% respectively from the previous week’s jump to a 0.35 demo rating and audience of 1.238 million.

Repeated from last week’s NXT ratings news article:

There is an important caveat in here to be considered for all wrestling ratings going forward. As reported in early September, Nielsen has changed its ratings system to a “Big Data + Panel” method, which combines the ratings measurement company’s traditional home panel-based data with inputs from devices including cable set-top boxes, satellite receivers, and smart TVs. This means that there has been a divergence in some numbers based on which numbers are being used.

Wrestlenomics has noted that the new method has mostly resulted in lower viewership among wrestling shows and that telecasts with younger-skewing audiences are generally (but not always) seeing lower measurements under the new system. What this all means is that direct comparisons with previous numbers are messy at best, because it’s using a new system. This includes all ratings for shows airing on traditional TV going forward including WWE NXT and Smackdown, and AEW Dynamite & Collision. With all that in mind, take the below comparisons with a grain of salt.

All that said: the demo rating was the lowest since the New Year’s Eve show in 2021, which did a 0.08. Meanwhile, the total viewership was the lowest since the November 24th, 2023 episode did 789,000 on FOX Sports 1. The show ranked #4 for the night among cable and broadcast shows in the demo rating behind the WNBA Playoffs (0.44 demo rating/1.858 million viewers), College Football Scoreboard on ESPN (0.31/1.218 million), and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (0.27/3.238 million).

Smackdown is averaging a 0.419 demo rating and 1.458 million viewers in 2025 to date, compared to a 0.622 and 2.207 million for 2024 on FOX and then USA Network to the same point.