WWE Smackdown Rating & Viewership Dip Against March Madness

WWE Smackdown’s rating took a fall on Friday against the NCAA March Madness tournament. Friday’s episode garnered a 0.39 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 1.459 million viewers per Programming Insider. Those numbers are down 25% and 7.1% from the previous week’s 0.52 demo rating and audience of 1.571 million.

The show’s demo rating was the lowest of 2025 to date, while the total audience was the lowest since the February 14th episode had 1.422 million. The show came in at #5 for the night behind only the NCAA men’s basketball tournament first round matches, which took the top four spots as follows:

1. Oklahoma vs. Connecticut (0.81 demo rating, 2.761 million viewers)
2. Troy vs. Kentucky (0.79 demo rating, 3.863 million viewers)
3. New Mexico vs. Marquette (0.75 demo rating, 2.571 million viewers)
4. Xavier vs. Illinois (0.66 demo rating, 3.217 million viewers)

Smackdown is averaging a 0.66 demo rating and 1.547 million viewers in 2025 to date, compared to a 0.677 and 2.414 million for 2024 on FOX to the same point.