WWE Raw ratings down slightly, still another big number

Raw had another big number last night with 3.31 million viewers, down slightly from last week’s 3.35 million, but aside from last week, it was better than all but a few episodes since the fall of 2016.

The big question regarded the Ultimate Deletion segment in the third hour. The show dropped 11 percent from hour two to hour three, which is a big number, but hour three still topped three million viewers, which has only happened a handful of times in recent months. Given how last week’s show did, it did not hold the viewers as well as last week did, but you can’t call it a notable ratings success or failure.

Raw was once again the highest rated show on cable, beating Rachel Maddow at 3.17 million and Hannity at 3.11 million. Ratings right now are ultra-important because this is when they are negotiating a new deal, so the idea of a hot product is worth tens of millions of dollars annually in negotiations.

The second hour being the most-watched hour once again is due to the changing patterns during Daylight Savings time.

The three hours were:

• 8 p.m. 3.43 million viewers
• 9 p.m. 3.47 million viewers
• 10 p.m. 3.08 million viewers