WWE SmackDown ratings drop on Fourth of July

With the show airing on the Fourth of July holiday, WWE SmackDown’s numbers predictably took a hit on Friday night.

The pre-taped episode averaged 1.166 million viewers on USA Network, down 19.6 percent from the previous week. It’s the lowest audience total SmackDown has done since moving back to USA last September.

Smackdown drew a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s down 22 percent from last week and ties the November 15 episode for the lowest rating the show has done in that category on USA Network.

Starting with this episode, SmackDown moved back to two hours after having been a three-hour show since the start of 2025. It finished ninth in prime time on all of television in terms of total viewers on Friday night and ranked third in 18-49 on a day in which TV viewing was way down due to the holiday. SmackDown was first on cable in the demo, and the only network programming to beat it was coverage of the Macy’s Fourth of July parade on NBC that had two separate airings listed.

As compared to the same week in 2024, when the show still aired on Fox, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 48.3 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 51.5 percent.

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 18.5 percent in viewers and 17.9 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.