WWE Raw viewership down, draws lowest-viewed hour in show history

[Big Red Machine]

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/wwe- ... ow-history

Despite the viewership drop, Raw's 18-49 demo rating was up slightly from last week.

Dave Meltzer
14 minutes ago


U.S. television wrestling continued to take a hit as last night's Raw averaged 1.54 million viewers, including setting its record for the least viewed hour ever for a prime time Raw on the USA Network when hour three did 1.26 million viewers. Raw's 18-49 rating was slightly up to a 0.41 while the 18-34 rating was a 0.25.

That's a lower third hour than on holidays like July 4 or New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve, with the show in hour three built around Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka.

Every wrestling program except NXT had major declines this past week.

Raw also set a record with its first-ever 28 percent decline from hour one to hour three.

Raw was sixth for the night on cable television, trailing NFL-related programming on ESPN and ESPN2.

The New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay game did 10.13 million viewers and a 2.72 demo rating on ESPN and 1.14 million and 0.38 on ESPN2.

Barmageddon, after the third hour of Raw, hosted by Nikki Bella and promoted tremendously during the show, debuted at 650,000 viewers and a 0.18, putting it in the number 15 spot for the day and behind only the NFL game on ESPN and ESPN2 in the time slot.

Raw beat CBS in hour three and beat Fox all night among network shows.

Raw was down eight percent in viewers from last week, but up two percent in 18-49. It was down 19 percent in 18-34.

From last year, where the show this week did a record low in 18-49 against a monster football game, Raw was down four percent in viewers, up 16 percent in 18-49, and up 32 percent in 18-34, and factoring in the decline in homes getting the station, realistically it's a two percent increase in viewers, a 23 percent gain in 18-49, and a 39 percent gain in 18-34.

Raw was sixth in women 18-49, seventh in men 18-49, sixth in 18-34, fifth in women 12-34, and seventh in men 12-34. It was behind only NFL-related programming except for 90 Day Single Life beat Raw in women 18-49 and women 12-34. Raw was 20th in total viewers, trailing only NFL-related shows, news shows, and 90 Day Single Life, which would be the first time an entertainment show on Monday has beaten Raw in total viewers in months.

The first-to-third hour declines were 30 percent with women 18-49, 18 percent with men 18-49, 30 percent with women 12-34, 26 percent in men 12-34, and 27 percent with people over 50.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.60 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.26 million viewers

[XIV]

Simple answer? Get rid of Hour three. No weekly episodic show should be 3 hours long.

[Big Red Machine]

Simple answer? Get rid of Hour three. No weekly episodic show should be 3 hours long.

Agreed... but it seems like at this point the rights fees are too high for them to be willing to give up.

[XIV]

Simple answer? Get rid of Hour three. No weekly episodic show should be 3 hours long.

Agreed... but it seems like at this point the rights fees are too high for them to be willing to give up.

I think it would be an easy enough negotiation. Network gets their third hour back to do whatever with. Raw is likely to gain more viewers that stick out the whole show which improves ratings and therefore the premium the network can charge sponsors for advertising.

I've been off work with a rather serious injury recently and I have watched every show of WWE's from the 1st January 2000 so far up to late October 2000, and I have many thoughts as to how the current product could be improved by simply looking backwards, not in a wrestling capacity, but certainly in a presentation format.

[Big Red Machine]

Simple answer? Get rid of Hour three. No weekly episodic show should be 3 hours long.

Agreed... but it seems like at this point the rights fees are too high for them to be willing to give up.

I've been off work with a rather serious injury recently and I have watched every show of WWE's from the 1st January 2000 so far up to late October 2000, and I have many thoughts as to how the current product could be improved by simply looking backwards, not in a wrestling capacity, but certainly in a presentation format.

Hope you get better soon!

I would be interested in your thoughts.

[XIV]

Agreed... but it seems like at this point the rights fees are too high for them to be willing to give up.

I've been off work with a rather serious injury recently and I have watched every show of WWE's from the 1st January 2000 so far up to late October 2000, and I have many thoughts as to how the current product could be improved by simply looking backwards, not in a wrestling capacity, but certainly in a presentation format.

Hope you get better soon!

I would be interested in your thoughts.

I may have to write a whole column / blog on that one as I'm sure it'll be quite extensive.