By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Monday’s WWE Raw television show averaged 1.735 million viewers for USA Network, according to Showbuzzdaily.com. Viewership was up from the 1.563 million average from last week. Raw delivered a 0.44 rating in the 18-49 demographic, up from last week’s 0.37 rating.
Powell’s POV: Last week’s show was held on Independence Day. The better comparison is the 1.951 million viewership count and the 0.54 rating drawn for the June 27 edition. The first hour of Monday’s Raw averaged 1.723 million viewers. Hour two drew 1.798 million viewers. The final hour of the show averaged 1.684 million viewers. The three hours of Raw finished third, first, and second respectively in the 18-49 demographic in Monday’s cable ratings. The July 12, 2021 edition of Raw delivered 1.609 million viewers and a 0.43 rating in the 18-49 demographic for the final ThunderDome edition and the brand’s Money in the Bank go-home show.
About 150k above the week after Independence Day last year.
Comparisons to 12 years ago (WWE PG era in full swing and beginnings of Hogan/Bischoff TNA) Raw was neck-and-neck (slightly more viewers on average) with what Impact ratings were and about a third of the viewership on average of the Monday night flagship program.
For any wrestling company until they are averaging 3 million viewers for their main show than wrestling is still in the doldrums.
WWE might be there at this point. The Peacock numbers that are being released are significant. 2021 was the first WM on Peacock, and viewership was 15% higher than on WWE Network the year before. 2022 viewership was up 61% from 2021 and nearly 1/3 of the 54 million Peacock accounts watched WWE content on WM weekend this year.
How that translates to Raw/Smackdown I’m not sure as Raw and Smackdown full episodes are usually 1 month behind.