CM Punk and Randy Orton returns boost WWE Raw ratings

The return of C.M. Punk and Randy Orton to Raw on Monday was largely expected to lead to monster ratings, and it had the most viewers since the Raw after SummerSlam and highest 18-49 number since the Raw after WrestleMania.

The 1,884,000 viewers on average was about 400,000 higher than recent shows against the NFL and the 0.65 18-49 rating was up even more significantly from the numbers against the NFL season.

At press time we don’t have the NFL number, but the Vikings-Bears game was expected to be way down from the prior week. We also don’t have Raw’s rankings in the standing but Raw obviously beat everything on cable except NFL related programming. The growth was biggest with men 18-34 at 45 percent.

The show was up 29 percent in ratings from last week, up 35 percent in 18-49 and up 44 percent in 18-34.

Even though Punk was the key reason for the ratings increase, and his segment grew 117,000 viewers from the prior segment in total viewers but 128,000 in 18-49 meaning essentially older viewers actually tuned out more than in but 18-49 viewers came back for that final segment.

The show had the usual ratings pattern of declines so Punk didn’t change the pattern or have near the high point, but these days the main event being the high point is extremely rare. It was clearly Orton’s return that was also a major factor. The Orton segment that opened the show did a show high 2.06 million viewers and an 0.73. The Punk promo in the worse position of ending the show did 1.77 milln and 0.66. If the spots were switched, most likely Punk at first would have done as big or bigger, and Orton last would not have done as well. Orton vs. Dominik Mysterio was actually the low point of the show.

From one year ago, the show was up 14 percent in viewers, up 61 percent in 18-49 and up 65 percent in 18-34. Those comparisons are even more impressive when you consider the homes that have dropped USA over the past year.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 2.00 million
• 9 p.m. 1.89 million
• 10 p.m. 1.77 million