WWE SmackDown ratings up, best viewership since 2020

Friday night’s SmackDown averaged 2.535 million viewers on Fox, up 14.6 percent from the previous week. It’s the best viewership number for SmackDown since the Christmas Day episode of the show in 2020. For a SmackDown episode without an NFL lead-in, this was the largest audience since March 2020.

SmackDown finished fourth among all network television programs in terms of total viewers, and that’s with many network shows airing first-run episodes. SmackDown is usually near the bottom in total viewers during fall and winter.

In the 18-49 demo, SmackDown topped all of television with a 0.63 rating. That’s up 26 percent from the previous week and is the show’s second-highest rating of the year in that category, only trailing the Royal Rumble weekend episode.

SmackDown also finished first on television with a 0.44 rating in the 18-34 demo. 

As compared with the same week in 2021, SmackDown was up 18.7 percent in total viewers and up 14.6 percent in 18-49. It’s the first time since July 22 that the show has had a year-over-year increase in either category. 

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, along with the 10-week averages in both categories. This week’s show was up 19.1 percent in viewers and up 23.5 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.