WWE SmackDown viewership and 18-49 demo rating up
Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.21 million viewers on USA Network, up 4.5 percent from the previous week. This marks the best audience total for the show since Nielsen switched over to its new reporting system for ratings.
SmackDown ranked second on cable, and third overall on television, with a 0.29 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s up 7.4 percent from last week and matches the highest rating the show has done under the new Big Data + Panel model.
The show went head-to-head with a college football game on ESPN that topped all of TV with a 0.47 rating in 18-49.
As compared to the same week in 2024, under the old panel-only system, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 23.3 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 37 percent.
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 episode was up 5.1 percent in overall viewers and 3.6 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.
Note: The Nielsen switch began on October 1 and has resulted in severe declines for most wrestling programming, particularly in the 18-49 demo.
WWE SmackDown ratings —
| Date | 18-49 | Total viewers |
| 9/12/2025 | 0.37 | 1,316,000 |
| 9/19/2025 | 0.37 | 1,342,000 |
| 9/26/2025 | 0.35 | 1,238,000 |
| 10/3/2025 | 0.23 | 1,030,000 |
| 10/10/2025 | 0.22 | 1,025,000 |
| 10/17/2025 | 0.28 | 1,182,000 |
| 10/24/2025 | 0.29 | 1,147,000 |
| 10/31/2025 | 0.20 | 933,000 |
| 11/7/2025 | 0.26 | 1,141,000 |
| 11/14/2025 | 0.27 | 1,158,000 |
| 11/21/2025 | 0.29 | 1,210,000 |
| 10-week average | 0.28 | 1,151,200 |
