WWE SmackDown viewership down, 18-49 rating up for Royal Rumble fallout

Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown averaged 2.469 million viewers on FOX, down 0.2 percent from the previous week. It’s the second-highest audience the show has done since September 15 of last year. 

SmackDown averaged a 0.74 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s up 4.2 percent from last week and is the highest rating in that category the show has done since August 25. SmackDown more than doubled everything else on network TV in the key demo. 

The show featured an unadvertised appearance of The Rock in the final segment as well as special appearances from Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley and was built around the Royal Rumble winners choosing their WrestleMania opponents. 

As compared to the same week in 2023, the overall audience was up 3.6 percent while the 18-49 rating was up 21.3 percent. 

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for FOX airings of WWE SmackDown as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 11.9 percent in overall viewers and 25.4 percent in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.