WWE SmackDown Live's Competition On Fridays This Fall After Move To FOX
The fall network TV schedule for the 2019-2020 season is official following the upfronts last week in New York City.
Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier officially announced that WWE SmackDown Live will air every Friday night on Fox from 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. ET. It will debut on Friday, October 4th.
Below is the network competition that SmackDown will face during that timeslot:
ABC: American Housewife (8:00 – 8:30), Fresh Off The Boat (8:30 – 9:00), 20/20 (9:00 – 10:00)
CBS: Hawaii Five-0 (8:00 – 9:00), Magnum P.I. (9:00 – 10:00)
NBC: The Blacklist (8:00 – 9:00), Dateline NBC (9:00 – 10:00)
CW: Charmed (8:00 – 9:00), Dynasty (9:00 – 10:00)
Of those networks, SmackDown will face their toughest overall competition from CBS. Hawaii Five-0 averaged 7.207 million viewers per episode last season on Friday nights. Magnum P.I. aired on Monday nights last season, where it averaged 5.992 million viewers.
The Blacklist and Dateline NBC will return to NBC on Friday nights, where they averaged 4.003 million viewers and 3.347 million viewers last season, respectively.
For ABC, American Housewife will be moving to Friday nights. The show averaged 4.165 million viewers last season on Tuesdays. Fresh Off The Boat is back on Fridays, where it averaged 3.028 million viewers last season followed by 20/20, which averaged 3.524 million viewers.
WWE will face their weakest competition from CW. Charmed averaged 0.850 million viewers last season, while Dynasty averaged just 0.556 million viewers per episode.
WWE SmackDown Live has averaged 2.1 million viewers so far this year, although the show has fallen below the 2 million mark over the past few weeks. While FOX is available in 30% more homes than the USA Network, the show will also be moving to a less desirable night. SmackDown averaged a 3.2 cable rating for the three months before they moved to Friday nights in September of 2005. For the three months following the move, the show was averaging a 2.6 cable rating, a 19% decline.