WWE RAW Viewership Down With Major College Football Competition
Monday's live WWE RAW episode, featuring Triple H's return to the ring against Randy Orton in the main event, drew an average of 1.819 million viewers on the USA Network, according to Showbuzz Daily.
This is down 14.5% from last week's 2.128 million viewers for the Legends Night special, which was the best RAW viewership since March 16, 2020.
For this week's show, the first hour drew 2.024 million viewers (last week's hour 1 – 2.197 million), the second hour drew 1.802 million viewers (last week's hour 2 – 2.150 million) and the final hour drew 1.632 million viewers (last week's hour 3 – 2.036 million).
RAW ranked #38 for the night in viewership on cable, down from last week's #20 spot, and behind the College Football Championship game, Rachel Maddow Show, Cuomo Prime Time, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Tonight at 10pm, Erin Burnett Outfront, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Deadline: White House, Situation Room at 5pm, The Five, 11th Hour, CNN Newsroom at 3pm, Sportscenter at midnight, Beat, Hannity, Last Word, Lead with Jake Tapper, Reidout, Special Report, Andrea Mitchell Reports, MSNBC Live at 10am, CNN Newsroom at 2pm, All In, Situation Room at 6pm, The Ingraham Angle, CNN Newsroom at 1pm, CNN Newsroom at 12pm, MSNBC Live at 3pm, MSNBC Live at 2pm, CNN Newsroom at 11am, CNN Tonight at 11pm, CNN Newsroom at 10am, CNN Newsroom at 9am, MTP Daily, The Story, Morning Joe, and MSNBC Live at 9am. The cable news programs once again dominated the night on cable, along with the college football game.
This week's RAW was down from last week's Legends Night special, but up from what the show had been doing. This week's viewership was down 10.4% from the same week in 2020.
RAW tied for #5 for the night on the Cable Top 150, with an average 18-49 demographic rating of 0.55, down 19% from last week's #1 ranked 0.68, which was the first #1 ranking for RAW since the NFL season began back in September. The three-way tie was with Anderson Cooper 360 and Erin Burnett Outfront.
The College Football Championship Game between Alabama and Ohio State dominated the night in viewership and the 18-49 demographic on cable for the night. ESPN's 5 slots for the game, from 7:31pm through 11:54pm, averaged a 2.89 rating in the key demo with a total of 51.859 million viewers. The actual game drew 18.219 million viewers and a 5.05 rating in the key demo.
The Bachelor on ABC drew an average of 4.739 million viewers on broadcast TV in the 8pm hour while The Neighborhood drew 4.126 million viewers on CBS, Ellen's Game of Games drew 3.144 million viewers on NBC, 911 drew 2.312 million viewers on FOX and CW's All American Stories drew 338,000 viewers, all in the 8pm hour on broadcast TV.
Below is our 2021 RAW Viewership Tracker:
January 4 Episode: 2.128 million viewers with a 0.68 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Legends Night episode)
January 11 Episode: 1.819 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 18 Episode:
2020 Total: 97.744 million viewers over 52 episodes
2020 Average: 1.880 million viewers per episode
2019 Total: 125.746 million viewers over 52 episodes
2019 Average: 2.418 million viewers per episode
2018 Total: 149.628 million viewers over 53 episodes
2018 Average: 2.823 million viewers per episode
2017 Total: 156.971 million viewers over 52 episodes
2017 Average: 3.018 million viewers per episode