WWE SmackDown viewership down against NFL preseason games

Friday night’s episode of WWE SmackDown averaged 1.258 million viewers on the USA Network, down 12% from the previous week. It’s the lowest audience for the show since July 4 and the second lowest so far in 2025.

SmackDown averaged a 0.35 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s identical to last week and ties the lowest since July 4th and third lowest rating the show has done in that category this year to date.

The show went head to head with 2 separate NFL preseason games on CBS and the NFL Network. The CBS game topped all of television with a 0.42 rating and 2.563 million viewers.

As compared to the same week in 2024, when SmackDown still aired on FOX, the overall viewership was down 38.6% while the 18-49 rating was down 37.5%.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall SmackDown viewership and 18-49 demo ratings as well as the 10 week average in both categories. This week’s show was down 14.6% in overall viewers and in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.