WWE Smackdown Viewership & Ratings Report: 10/3/25

Over the last week, Nielsen's new "Big Data + Panel" system has negatively affected professional wrestling ratings across the board, with the numbers for some of WWE and AEW's biggest shows significantly declining as a result of the more accurate model. While "WWE Raw" remains unaffected due to the program streaming on Netflix, "WWE SmackDown" has fallen victim to the new measurement, with this past Friday's episode posting historic low totals.

According to Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider, "SmackDown" averaged 1,030,000 viewers and recorded a 0.23 in the key 18-49 demographic, making it the lowest figure in the blue brand's history, outside of a few pre-empted episodes of the show that aired on FS1. When comparing both categories to the previous week, total viewership declined by 17%, with the program also being down in the metric by 25% over the last month. As for the key demographic, "SmackDown's" viewers in the 18-49 dropped by an outstanding 34%, with its numbers in the category decreasing by nearly 50% since October 2024. Despite the disappointing results, "SmackDown" still managed to rank third on cable on Friday, and finished fourth across both broadcast and cable in the 18-49 demo while going head-to-head with the WNBA Playoffs, which topped the night.

Aside from Nielsen's new model having an impact on this week's ratings, it's clear that many viewers are choosing social media to consume WWE's content, with the full-length main event between Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and The Vision drawing nearly 1.5 million viewers on the platform. Four other segments from the show also performed well, with each video almost reaching 500,000 views.

Although wrestling ratings continue to struggle under the "Big Data + Panel" system, many sporting events and other major networks have seen its viewership grow since the transition. Therefore, the future of professional wrestling's viewership could become more concerning with the NHL and NBA seasons beginning this month, each of which have proven to be strong competition in the past.