WWE Raw draws lowest ratings of ThunderDome era
Raw last night, going against a strong NFL number and with no notable thing that would increase the ratings, did its worst number of the ThunderDome era last night with 1.66 million viewers and an 0.48 in 18-49.
Both would rank among the lowest numbers in show history. Previous weeks for Raw have been boosted by legends appearances, the day after a pay-per-view, and the usual two-week increase that the draft and week after the draft do.
Last night’s Raw tied the fourth lowest 18-49 number in show history.
The decrease came days after SmackDown had its best numbers in 18-49 since March. The key was hour three, which was down 18 percent from the first hour, the biggest drop in a long time and led to the third hour being the least-watched hour in the history of the show.
The show was down four percent in viewers and six percent in 18-49 from last week. It ranked ninth for the night in 18-49 and 39th overall. However, Raw remained the number one\ entertainment show on cable television last night both overall and in 18-49. It was behind three-NFL related shows and six news shows in 18-49. Of the top 40 shows in 18-49, aside from ESPN, there was only Raw, Below Deck on Bravo, The Holiday Baking Championship on The Food Network, and two shows on TLC.
Raw was also sixth in males 18-49, sixth in 18-34, and sixth in males 12-34, in all cases trailing only news and NFL related programming.
Another aspect of the drop was the Tampa Bay Bucs being a marquee team as their game with the New York Giants did 11.70 million viewers.
As far as the first-to-third hour drops, women 18-49 fell nine percent, men 18-49 fell 17 percent, teenage girls fell 29 percent, teenage boys fell one percent, and over 50 fell 19 percent.
As compared to last year, when the same week’s Raw did what was at the time the fourth lowest watched non-holiday episode in history, this year was down 22 percent in viewers, 37 percent in 18-49, and 44 percent in 18-34.
The three hours were
8 p.m. 1.77 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.46 million viewers