WWE SmackDown ratings up on Friday night

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.455 million viewers on USA Network, up 3.7 percent from the previous week. It’s the second-highest audience total for the show since December 13. The show finished in the top 10 overall on television for the night in terms of total viewers, which it has not done since moving to USA.

SmackDown finished first on all of TV in the 18-49 demo with a 0.44 rating. That’s up 4.8 percent from last week and ties the second-best rating the show has done since November 22.

The show finished well ahead of the major sports competition — a college basketball game on Fox that did 1.069 million viewers and a 0.23 rating in 18-49 and an NBA game on ESPN that averaged 424,000 viewers and a 0.13 in the demo.

As compared to the same week in 2024, when the show still aired on Fox, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 41.2 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 38 percent. This was the weekend of the Royal Rumble last year, which always does a number well above average.

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 up 1.7 percent in overall viewers and 7.3 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.