WWE SmackDown ratings up, ranks first on TV in 18-49 demo

Friday night’s Royal Rumble go-home edition of WWE SmackDown averaged 1.578 million viewers on USA Network, up 8.5 percent from the previous week. It’s the best audience total for SmackDown since the show moved to three hours and is tied for its largest audience overall since October 11.

SmackDown finished first on all of television with a 0.51 rating in the 18-49 demo, nearly doubling the closest competition. That’s up 15.9 percent from last week and is the second-highest rating the show has done in that category since returning to USA, trailing only the premiere on September 13 of last year.

The biggest sports competition was a college basketball game on Fox that drew a 0.31 rating in the 18-49 demo (tied for second place on TV) and averaged 1.453 million viewers overall.

As compared to the same week in 2024, when the show still aired on Fox, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 36.1 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 31.1 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership totals and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s episode was up 8.6 percent in viewers and 18.6 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.