WWE SmackDown viewership down, 18-49 demo rating up

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown — the go-home show for Night of Champions — averaged 1.45 million viewers on USA Network, down 4.9 percent from last week. Despite that, this is the second-highest audience total for the show since May 9.

In the 18-49 demo, SmackDown topped all of television with a 0.41 rating. That’s up 7.9 percent from last week and ties the second-best rating the show has done since April 25.

The episode took place in Saudi Arabia earlier in the day and was shown live on Netflix outside of the United States before airing on USA Network. The taped broadcast went head-to-head with NHL Draft coverage on ESPN, which was the only major sports competition. The draft averaged 534,000 viewers and drew a 0.16 rating in 18-49.

As compared to the same week in 2024, when the show still aired on Fox, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 35.7 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 37.9 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 0.7 percent in overall viewers but steady in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.