WWE Raw ratings for first episode of 2023
Monday was a weird night for ratings with the NFL’s Damar Hamlin tragedy.
The Buffalo Bills vs,. Cincinnati Bengals game coverage ended at 10:10 p.m., but the third hour of Raw fell greatly perhaps due to people wondering about what happened.
Raw averaged 1.60 million viewers with a 0.41 rating in 18-49. It finished 11th for the day but was second behind ESPN in the time slot. It beat CBS, beat NBC in hour three, and beat Fox.
The NFL game averaged 23.79 million viewers and drew a 6.24 in 18-49 between ABC (11.05 million/2.42), ESPN (9.11 million/2.56), and ESPN2 (3.63 million/1.26).
While not head-to-head, Raw finished behind the Rose Bowl (10.19 million/2.34), Cotton Bowl (4.17 million/1.06), as well as the NHL game on TNT (1.78 million/0.60), and the ReliaQuest Bowl (2.18 million/0.52).
Raw was down six percent in viewers from two weeks ago (last week was the Best of 2022 episode), down five percent in 18-49, and down 10 percent in 18-34.
From the same week last year, Raw was down six percent in viewers, down 10 percent in 18-49, and down 18 percent in 18-34. Factoring out homes lost, the real percentage decline would be one percent in viewers, five percent in 18-49, and 13 percent in 18-34.
Raw was tenth in women 18-49, 11th in men 18-49, 12th in 18-34, tenth in women 12-34, 12th in men 12-34, and 17th in total viewers.
The first-to-third hour decline would be among the largest in the history of the show, but there were extenuating circumstances to a degree as to why. The show was built for an Austin Theory vs. Seth Rollins United States title match as the main event.
The declines from hour one to three were 25 percent in women 18-49, 15 percent in men 18-49, 26 percent in women 12-34 , 17 percent in men 12-34, and 26 percent with people over 50.
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 1.83 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 1.60 million viewers
- 10 p.m. 1.39 million viewers