WWE touts ratings growth of SmackDown, Raw, NXT
Leading into WrestleMania 40, WWE is celebrating the year-over-year ratings growth of its weekly television programs.
WWE issued a press release on Monday touting that, in the first quarter of 2024, SmackDown, Raw, and NXT are all up from last year in the 18-49 demo. Paul “Triple H” Levesque said the ratings are “a testament to [WWE’s] creative team, production crew and all of the WWE Superstars that work together week in and week out to produce these impressive results.”
The press release highlighted the following metrics:
SmackDown —
In Q1 2024, SmackDown is averaging 892K total viewers among P18-49, up 15 percent versus the year prior.
SmackDown has ranked No. 1 among P18-49 audiences across all total day Friday broadcasts for 11 of the first 12 weeks of the quarter.
Feb. 16 episode of SmackDown scored 985K viewers among P18-49, making it the most-viewed broadcast program in primetime for the entire week of Feb. 12.
Raw —
In Q1 2024, Raw averaged 733K total viewers among P18-49, up six percent versus the year prior.
Raw ranked No. 1 among P18-49 audiences on Monday cable for nine of the 13 weeks of the quarter.
The unexpected return of Pat McAfee to the commentator table during the Jan. 29 episode delivered 811K total viewers among P18-49 – up 13 percent versus the week prior – and easily ranked No. 1 on cable.
NXT —
In Q1 2024, NXT was up 31 percent among P18-49 versus the year prior.
In total viewers, SmackDown is up three percent compared to this time in 2023, Raw is down seven percent, and NXT is up seven percent.
WrestleMania season has seen a boost this year with The Rock returning to WWE television and joining Roman Reigns in his feud against Cody Rhodes. Rock is teaming with Reigns against Rhodes & Seth Rollins in the WrestleMania 40 night one main event this Saturday (April 6).
The Rock’s return also helped WWE’s YouTube channel reach 100 million subscribers ahead of schedule.
SmackDown, Raw, and NXT will all have new homes in their next TV deals. SmackDown is moving back to USA Network in October 2024, NXT is moving to The CW Network in October 2024, and Raw is moving to Netflix in January 2025.
