WWE Raw ratings down slightly against NBA and NHL playoff competition
Raw last night averaged 1.73 million viewers overall and drew a 0.41 rating in 18-49, which should be considered good given the competition from the NBA and NHL playoffs.
The show went back to the usual pattern of the first hour having the most viewers and a big drop-off in hour three, which hadn’t been the case in recent weeks.
The Celtics-Heat NBA playoff game was on ABC and did 6.40 million viewers and a 1.93 in 18-49. Raw was third on cable behind the Colorado-St. Louis NHL game on TNT that started at 9:58 p.m. and did 1.22 million viewers and a 0.46, and the Florida vs. Tampa Bay game that started before Raw began and did 1.36 million viewers and a 0.43.
Raw beat the NHL in women 18-49 and was second to Below Deck in that demo. It was third behind the NHL games in men 18-49, third behind the NHL games in 18-34, second behind Below Deck in women 12-34, and third behind the NHL in men 12-34.
In total viewers, Raw was 12th, trailing 11 news shows.
Below Deck was the highest non-sports show, which heavily appeals to women, and did 1.15 million viewers and 0.34
Raw was down less than one percent from last week in viewers, which is very impressive since last week had no NBA or NHL competition. It was down nine percent in 18-49 and down four percent in 18-34.
As compared to one year ago, Raw was up seven percent in viewers and down nine percent in 18-49, which shows major aging of the audience. Factoring in loss of homes of USA Network, the realistic comparison would be a 15 percent gain in viewers and and two percent loss in 18-49.
As far as first-to-third hour movement, women 18-49 dropped 18 percent and men 18-49 dropped six percent. People over 50 dropped 19 percent.
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 1.85 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 1.82 million viewers
- 10 p.m. 1.53 million viewers