WWE SmackDown ratings up, best viewership in four weeks
Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.158 million viewers on USA Network, up 1.5 percent from the previous week. It’s the best audience total for the show since October 17.
SmackDown drew a 0.27 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s up 3.8 percent from the November 7 episode and is the highest rating the show has done in that category since October 24. SmackDown finished second on cable and fifth overall on TV in the key demo for the night.
There was head-to-head competition from college football games on Fox and ESPN, with those games and the pre-show for the Fox game taking the top three spots on the charts. CBS’ Sheriff Country was the only other program to beat SmackDown.
As compared to the same week in 2024, using Nielsen’s old panel-only reporting method, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 6.2 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 15.6 percent. That episode in 2024 had lower-than-usual numbers due to taking place on the same night as Netflix’s Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing special.
Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was down three percent in viewers and 12.9 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.
Note: Beginning on October 1, Nielsen started using the Big Data + Panel reporting method which has resulted in severe ratings declines for most wrestling shows.
