Throughout October, "WWE SmackDown" has posted some of its lowest ratings in history, with increased sports competition and Nielsen's new "Big Data + Panel" system negatively impacting wrestling viewership across the board. Over the past two weeks, "SmackDown" was dangerously close to falling beneath the 1 million viewer threshold, but thankfully last Friday's eventful program was an improvement for the blue brand.
According to Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider, "SmackDown" averaged1,180,000 viewers and posted an 0.28 in the key 18-49 demographic. When comparing both categories to the previous week, total viewership increased by 15%, with the 18-49 demo also rising by 27%. Despite facing stiff competition from College football and the MLB playoffs, "SmackDown" still managed to rank in the top ten for the night on cable and finished seventh on the charts in the 18-49 demo. Unfortunately, "SmackDown's" numbers have disappointed compared to this time last year, with total viewership declining by 28% since October 2024 when the show just moved to the USA Network. What's possibly more concerning is "SmackDown's" totals in the key demographic over the past year, with the category being down by a whopping 47% since last fall.
It's clear that WWE was looking to quickly bounce back after several weeks of recording poor viewership numbers, as last Friday's "SmackDown" saw Drew McIntyre challenge Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Title, andIlja Dragunov return from injury to accept Sami Zayn's open challenge and win the United States Championship. Although Nielsen's more accurate model initially hurt "SmackDown," hopefully the program will manage to capitalize on last Friday and continue to improve its viewership heading towards Survivor Series next month.
