WWE Raw viewership up for Elimination Chamber fallout
Image: WWE
Coming off Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and the WWE Championship change, Raw got an increase to 1.89 million viewers, the same number the show did the day after the Royal Rumble, with a 0.57 rating in 18-49.
Raw was first by a wide margin in 18-49 on cable against easier competition. The number two show — Watch What Happens Live on Bravo — did a 0.37. Raw didn’t beat any network shows in that demo. Raw was 13th for the night in total viewers on cable, which is better than the show has been doing.
It’s a good sign that Raw equaled the day after the Rumble, which is likely due to a combination of weaker competition and changing the WWE title the night before.
As compared to last week, Raw was up four percent in viewers, was equal in 18-49, and was down 10 percent in 18-34, so it had more viewers but also skewed older than last week.
As compared to the same show one year ago, it was down 14 percent in viewers, 20 percent in 18-49, and 45 percent in 18-34, so it was a much older audience than a year ago, but it always is.
College basketball on ESPN averaged 827,000 viewers and a 0.22 rating in 18-49 for the early game and 590,000 viewers and a 0.14 for the late game, which was the only sports competition.
The first-to-third hour drop of 11 percent was normal. By category, the drops were 15 percent for women 18-49, nine percent for men 18-49, up 21 percent in teenage girls which is usually a category that tunes out late, but down 30 percent with teenage boys and down eight percent in over 50.
The three hours were:
- 8 pm. 1.98 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 1.93 million viewers
- 10 p.m. 1.77 million viewers
Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.