WWE SmackDown draws lowest viewership since last July

Friday night’s SmackDown averaged 1.878 million viewers on Fox, down 7.5 percent from the previous week. It’s the lowest audience for the show since July 2 of last year. 

SmackDown led all network programming (by a considerable margin) in the 18-49 demo with a 0.43 rating. That’s down 4.4 percent from the previous week and is SmackDown’s third-lowest number of the year in that category. 

SmackDown also led the networks with a 0.20 rating in the 18-34 demo, 42 percent higher than the closest competition.

However, SmackDown had massive competition from cable. The NBA Eastern Conference Finals game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, most of which aired against SmackDown, averaged 7.2 million viewers on ESPN and drew a 2.41 rating in 18-49. TNT’s coverage of the NHL playoffs averaged 1.6 million viewers and drew a 0.55 rating in the demo.

As compared to the same week in 2021, SmackDown was down 2.7 percent in overall viewers and down 14 percent in 18-49.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo numbers for SmackDown, along with the 10-week averages in both categories. This week’s show was down 10.1 percent in viewers and down 12.2 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.