WWE SmackDown ratings up for first episode of 2025

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.528 million viewers on USA Network, up 6.4 percent from the previous week. It’s the second-highest audience total for the show since November 22.

SmackDown finished second on the prime time cable charts with a 0.45 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s up 9.8 percent from last week and also ties the second-best rating the show has done in that category since the November 22 episode.

This was the first episode since SmackDown moved to three hours, though it’s been confirmed that the show will be moving back to a two-hour format at some point in the coming months. It went head-to-head with college football’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl on ESPN, which topped the cable charts with 3.384 million viewers and a 0.65 rating in the 18-49 demo.

As compared to the same week in 2024, when SmackDown aired on Fox, the show’s overall audience was down 38 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 32.8 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 6.7 percent in viewers and 7.1 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.