WWE SmackDown Draws Record Low Viewership Before MITB
This week's taped Money In the Bank go-home edition of WWE SmackDown, featuring the final hype for Sunday's pay-per-view with a main event segment that had Kevin Owens and WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, drew 1.827 million viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily.
This is down 5.4% from last week's 1.931 million viewers and the lowest SmackDown audience for a non-holiday first-run episode in history. The only first-run episode that did worse was the New Year's Eve 2015 episode, which drew 1.658 million viewers and was the final SmackDown on Syfy show. This was back when the show was taped and featured Superstars from both brands.
SmackDown was #12 for the night in viewership on cable, behind the NBA Playoffs game between the Warriors and the Trailblazers, the NBA Draft Lottery, Hannity, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Rachel Maddow Show, The Five, The Ingraham Angle, SportsCenter at midnight, NBA: The Jump, Last Word and the NHL Conference Finals between the Bruins and the Hurricanes. SmackDown was #6 in the 18-49 demographic this week, behind the NBA Playoffs game, the NBA Draft Lottery, SportsCenter, NBA: The Jump and the NHL Conference Finals game. The Trailblazers vs. Warriors NBA game topped the night in the Cable Top 150 18-49 demographic and in viewership with 7.315 million viewers.
The big draw on network TV at 8pm was NCIS on CBS, which drew 11.696 million viewers.
To compare, Monday's taped Money In the Bank go-home edition of WWE RAW drew an average of 2.349 million viewers, up from last week's 2.244 million viewers, which was the second-lowest viewership of 2019 and the third-lowest audience for a non-holiday RAW episode in history.
Below is our 2019 SmackDown Viewership Tracker:
January 1 Episode: 2.091 million viewers (New Year's episode, taped)
January 8 Episode: 2.032 million viewers
January 15 Episode: 2.143 million viewers
January 22 Episode: 2.142 million viewers
January 29 Episode: 2.137 million viewers (post-Royal Rumble episode)
February 5 Episode: 1.841 million viewers (State of the Union competition)
February 12 Episode: 2.034 million viewers
February 19 Episode: 2.269 million viewers (post-Elimination Chamber episode)
February 26 Episode: 2.150 million viewers
March 5 Episode: 2.155 million viewers
March 12 Episode: 2.198 million viewers (post-Fastlane episode)
March 19 Episode: 2.208 million viewers
March 26 Episode: 2.393 million viewers
April 2 Episode: 2.141 million viewers
April 9 Episode: 2.199 million viewers (post-WrestleMania 35 episode)
April 16 Episode: 2.219 million viewers (Superstar Shakeup episode)
April 23 Episode: 2.072 million viewers
April 30 Episode: 1.833 million viewers
May 7 Episode: 1.931 million viewers
May 14 Episode: 1.827 million viewers (taped episode from London)
May 21 Episode:
2018 Total: 122.304 million viewers
2018 Average: 2.352 million viewers per episode
2017 Total: 132.401 million viewers
2017 Average: 2.546 million viewers per episode