WWE Raw ratings mostly steady despite return to two hours
The first two-hour Raw in a dozen years on Monday averaged 1.55 million viewers with a 0.47 rating in 18-49.
The number was similar to last week even though it eliminated the lowest rated third hour from the average, and so while it was up a little in viewers and down overall in 18-49 from last week, it’s really an overall down number even coming off a highly anticipated Bad Blood PPV which saw The Rock and Goldberg involved.
Wrestlenomics was the first to report the number. The Kansas City Chiefs vs. New Orleans Saints game that included Taylor Swift shown frequently, did 15.8 million viewers and a 4.34 rating combined between ESPN and ESPN2. That’s a very strong number for a cable game that isn’t also broadcast on ABC. TBS and TruTV aired the New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals playoff game which did a combined 3.48 million viewers and a 0.83 in 18-49.
Raw was up two percent in viewers and down one percent in 18-49 from last week, but in just comparing the two hours, which is the best comparison, it was down one percent in viewers and down five percent in 18-49.
The Gunther vs. Sami Zayn main event did 1.62 million viewers, far higher than main events had done in the third hour. The high point of the show was the CM Punk interview at 171 million viewers.
It was down one percent in viewers from the same week last year but up 12 percent in 18-49, showing again major changes and a younger audience makeup from one year ago. But it was down four percent in viewers from the first two hours last year, which is a more fair comparison. But homes getting USA Network are down far more than four percent, so it’s still realistically on the positive side.
The two hours were:
- 8 p.m. 1.57 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 1.52 million viewers