Raw’s numbers down big from last week, still #1 rated show on TV

The Raw After WrestleMania did massive ratings and viewership numbers last Monday, for a variety of reasons.

April 10’s episode didn’t have nearly as much buzz. It did have a strong curiosity factor, between speculation about Vince McMahon’s involvement after the previous week’s creative chaos and afternoon reports of talent travel woes forcing changes to the script. And, you know, the high level of interest WWE programming has had in general over the past several months.

Whatever it was, the numbers both reflect a return to earth after last week’s highs AND signs the company is still producing a product a lot of people want to watch.

Raw averaged 1,818,000 viewers across its three hours last night. The 18-49 year old demographic rating of .59 was above what the red show had been doing in March, and won the night on all of television — broadcast and cable. ABC’s American Idol was second with a .56 in the demo.

The 9pm ET block dominated the hourly numbers (Trish Stratus: still a draw). The last hour had a higher rating than the first, so “holds” will also be an interesting talking point…

Hour One: 1.76 million / .56Hour Two: 1.96 million / .64Hour Three: 1.73 million / .58

There will be debate about whether the focus should be on the half million people who watched the ‘Mania fallout show but didn’t come back this week, or the fact Raw beat American Idol.

Chime in below.

For complete results and this week’s Raw live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here. For video highlights of the show click here.

Numbers via Showbuzz Daily