WWE Raw tops two million viewers for WrestleMania 38 fallout
The Raw after WrestleMania last night drew the largest audience for the show since January 2021 (a special Legends Night episode), and the best 18-49 number since the start of the 2021 football season
Last night’s Raw averaged 2.10 million viewers overall and drew a 0.63 rating in the 18-49 demo. The numbers are far more impressive when you consider the show went against what could be one of its toughest nights of the year for competition with the NCAA men’s championship game going head-to-head with the second half of Raw.
Not surprisingly, this led to hour one being the highest rated when of late it has been hour two. There was a 19.3 percent drop from hour one to three, usually the sign of a bad show. But in this case it’s likely almost entirely based on the basketball game.
The North Carolina vs. Kansas game aired on TBS, TNT, and TruTV, doing 17.05 million viewers and a 4.72 in 18-49.
Raw was sixth for the night with a number that would win the night almost any other week. It was behind the TBS, TNT and TruTV airings of the championship game, the TBS post-game show, and the TBS pre-game show. The highest non-basketball show besides Raw was Below Deck on Bravo which did 1.11 million viewers and a 0.37.
Raw was sixth across the board in every key demo, behind the aforementioned programming.
As compared to last year’s episode after WrestleMania, which did not go against the NCAA tournament, Raw was still up four percent in viewers, down seven percent in 18-49, and up 13 percent in 18-34.
When you factor in the homes lost, the real rating differentials from last year’s show after Mania were up 14 percent in viewers, two percent in 18-49 and 24 percent in 18-34.
In total viewers, Raw was 13th for the night, behind five basketball-related shows and seven news shows.
Not surprisingly, the drops during the show were far stronger with men than women, since the basketball game was viewed by far more men.
The first-to-third hour drop was eight percent with women 18-49, 18 percent with men 18-49, 18 percent with teenage girls, and teenage boys stayed even. The drop from hour one to three with people over 50 was the largest at 23 percent.
Raw was up 12 percent in viewers from last week, up 14 percent in 18-49, and up 41 percent in 18-34.
The key number was men 18-34 which increased 54 percent, which is why the overall 18-34 number was so large.
Raw last night beat network programming on ABC, CBS (which ran all reruns rather than trying to compete with the game), NBC, and FOX. So in all of television, aside from the basketball programming, Raw was the most-watched show on television with people 18-49..
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 2.32 million
- 9 p.m. 2.11 million
- 10 p.m. 1.87 million