WWE SmackDown ratings down against College Football Playoffs

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.326 million viewers on USA Network, down 13.3 percent from the previous week. It’s the lowest audience total for the show since November 15 and is the second-lowest since SmackDown returned to USA Network.

The show finished third on cable with a 0.37 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s down 21.3 percent from last week, and it’s also the second-lowest rating SmackDown has done in that category since returning to USA, beating only the November 15 episode.

SmackDown went head-to-head with a Notre Dame vs. Indiana College Football Playoff game airing on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. The games itself averaged more than 13 million viewers between the networks. The pre-game shows on both channels rounded out the top shows on television, and programming related to the game was the only thing that beat SmackDown in the key demo.

As compared to the same week in 2023, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 37.1 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 32.3 percent (from an episode that aired on Fox).

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership totals and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was down 9.1 percent in overall viewers and 14 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.