WWE SmackDown ratings down due to NFL preseason pre-emptions

Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown averaged 1.927 million viewers on Fox, down 7.9 percent from the previous week. It’s the lowest audience total for the show since June 10.

SmackDown was pre-empted in a few major markets due to NFL preseason football airing on the local Fox affiliates. That greatly affected SmackDown’s ratings.

Despite that, SmackDown still led all of television with a 0.44 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s down 10.2 percent from the previous week and matches SmackDown’s lowest rating in the demo since May 27.

SmackDown led the English-language major networks with a 0.21 rating in the 18-34 demo, although several Spanish programs beat it. Two preseason games on the NFL Network also beat SmackDown in 18-34.

As compared with the same week in 2021, SmackDown was down 7.5 percent in overall viewers and down 24.1 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 9.8 percent in viewers and down 13.7 percent in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.