WWE SmackDown ratings increase despite Olympics competition
Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.459 million viewers on USA Network, up 15.8 percent from the previous week. This is the largest audience total reported for the show since September 5 of last year.
In the 18-49 demo, SmackDown drew a 0.35 rating. That’s up 20.7 percent from the prior week and ties the best rating the show has done in that category since September 19. The increases came despite the fact that SmackDown aired head-to-head with NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, which had aired live earlier in the day on Peacock. The Olympics will cause SmackDown to move to Syfy both this week and next week due to USA Network’s coverage.
As compared to the same week in 2025, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 3.2 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 27.1 percent
Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for WWE Smackdown on the USA Network, as well as the 10 week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 24.5 percent in overall viewers and 40 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.
Note: Beginning the week of January 26, Nielsen once again modified its ratings reporting method which has resulted in marked increases for all televised wrestling shows on cable since then.
WWE SmackDown ratings —
| Date | 18-49 | Total viewers |
| 11/28/2025 | 0.28 | 1,142,000 |
| 12/5/2025 | 0.24 | 1,063,000 |
| 12/12/2025 | 0.26 | 1,240,000 |
| 12/19/2025 | 0.21 | 995,000 |
| 12/26/2025 | 0.27 | 1,138,000 |
| 1/2/2026 | 0.28 | 1,175,000 |
| 1/9/2026 | 0.26 | 990,000 |
| 1/16/2026 | 0.21 | 968,000 |
| 1/23/2026 | 0.22 | 943,000 |
| 1/30/2026 | 0.29 | 1,260,000 |
| 2/6/2026 | 0.35 | 1,459,000 |
| 10 week average | 0.25 | 1,091,400 |
