Was WWE SmackDown Viewership Able To Top RAW With WWE Title Change?
This week's WWE SmackDown, featuring Daniel Bryan defeating AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, drew 2.312 million viewers. This is up 11% from last week's 2.088 million viewers and was the most watched episode since SmackDown 1000 on October 16th. Excluding SmackDown 1000, it was the most watched episode since the post-SummerSlam show on August 21st.
SmackDown was #8 in viewership for the night on cable, behind Rachel Maddow Show, Hannity, Curse of Oak Island, Tucker Carlson Tonight, The Five, Last Word, The Ingraham Angle and Special Report. SmackDown was #1 in the 18-49 demographic this week.
The big draw on network TV at 8pm was NCIS on CBS, which drew 12.467 million viewers. The Conners drew 6.941 million viewers on ABC while The Voice drew 8.848 million viewers on NBC and The Gifted on Fox drew 1.889 million viewers, all in the 8pm hour.
Although it was closer than most weeks, the audience for RAW, which averaged 2.450 million viewers, still topped SmackDown by 6%.
Below is our 2018 SmackDown Viewership Tracker:
January 2nd Episode: 2.720 million viewers
January 9th Episode: 2.603 million viewers
January 16th Episode: 2.602 million viewers
January 23rd Episode: 2.580 million viewers
January 30th Episode: 2.509 million viewers (Post-Royal Rumble Episode)
February 6th Episode: 2.505 million viewers
February 13th Episode: 2.449 million viewers
February 20th Episode: 2.613 million viewers
February 27th Episode: 2.692 million viewers
March 6th Episode: 2.590 million viewers
March 13th Episode: 2.771 million viewers (post-Fastlane episode)
March 20th Episode: 2.888 million viewers
March 27th Episode: 2.576 million viewers
April 3rd Episode: 2.467 million viewers
April 10th Episode: 2.952 million viewers (post-WrestleMania 34 episode)
April 17th Episode: 2.796 million viewers (Superstar Shakeup episode)
April 24th Episode: 2.549 million viewers
May 1st Episode: 2.436 million viewers
May 8th Episode: 2.293 million viewers (post-Backlash episode)
May 15th Episode: 2.298 million viewers (taped show from London)
May 22nd Episode: 2.195 million viewers
May 29th Episode: 2.195 million viewers
June 5th Episode: 2.138 million viewers
June 12th Episode: 2.183 million viewers
June 19th Episode: 2.315 million viewers (post-Money In the Bank episode)
June 26th Episode: 2.135 million viewers
July 3rd Episode: 2.013 million viewers
July 10th Episode: 2.183 million viewers
July 17th Episode: 2.293 million viewers (post-Extreme Rules episode)
July 24th Episode: 2.340 million viewers
July 31st Episode: 2.401 million viewers
August 7th Episode: 2.197 million viewers
August 14th Episode: 2.189 million viewers
August 21st Episode: 2.437 million viewers (post-SummerSlam episode)
August 28th Episode: 2.350 million viewers
September 4th Episode: 2.319 million viewers
September 11th Episode: 2.229 million viewers
September 18th Episode: 2.281 million viewers (post-Hell In a Cell episode)
September 25th Episode: 2.193 million viewers
October 2nd Episode: 2.095 million viewers
October 9th Episode: 2.135 million viewers (post-Super Show-Down episode)
October 16th Episode: 2.545 million viewers (SmackDown 1000 episode)
October 23rd Episode: 2.087 million viewers
October 30th Episode: 2.110 million viewers (post-Evolution episode)
November 6th Episode: 2.088 million viewers (post-Crown Jewel episode, taped show from England)
November 13th Episode: 2.312 million viewers
November 20th Episode:
2017 Total: 132.401 million viewers
2017 Average: 2.546 million viewers per episode