WWE SmackDown ratings down 16 percent following draft

[cero2k]

Source: f4wonline.com

Overnight ratings are in for the third week of SmackDown on FOX, and the show saw a drop for the second straight week.

The decline from last week was 16 percent in overall viewers, falling to an average of 2.441 million on Friday night. Last Friday's SmackDown was night one of the WWE Draft.

In the key 18-49 demo, the show fell from a 0.95 last week to a 0.75. That was still good for first overall on network television -- but just barely. For the premiere two weeks ago, SmackDown almost doubled the rest of the competition.

SmackDown was also tops in the 18-34 demo with a 0.55 rating, with nothing else on the networks beating a 0.3. The top rated show on TV was likely game five of the ALCS between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees. but that aired on cable and ratings will not be available until Monday.

SmackDown did grow its audience by over 100,000 viewers from hour one to hour two, which may be the only positive news. Hour one opened with 2.390 million viewers, with it increasing to 2.493 million for the second hour, which was headlined by a tag match with Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan facing Shinsuke Nakamura & King Corbin.

With game three of the World Series being on FOX next Friday, next week's SmackDown will air live on FS1.