WWE Draft doesn’t give Raw a ratings bump

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The WWE Draft came to Raw last night (May 1), which should mean an increase in viewers and ratings like the one SmackDown got for its Draft episode last week… right?

Nope.

Raw’s week-to-week numbers dropped despite the Draft. The average hourly audience of 1.78 million was 2% less than last Monday. The .54 rating among 18-49 year olds was a 3.5% drop.

Competition was a factor. Both NBA Playoff games on TNT did better than Raw, with the opening game of the second round Boston/Philadelphia series that went against most of WWE’s first two hours winning the night on cable with 4.74 million viewers and a 1.64 in the key demo. A basketball studio show, and the New Jersey Devils win over the New York Rangers in Game 7 of their NHL Playoff opening round series also beat Raw.

One plus is that the hourly holds remained strong, driven by 18-34 year olds (Raw’s grew its audience all night with that demo, with the first hour getting a .36, the second a .41, and the final hour a .42). Here are the total audience and 18-49 numbers for each…

Hour One: 1.84 million / .56
Hour Two: 1.87 million / .56
Hour Three: 1.62 million / .50

The other plus, and an area where the Draft did make a difference, is that last numbers are WAY above what Raw was doing a year ago. The May 4, 2022 episode was watched by 1.58 million and did a .38 among 18-49 year olds.

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

 

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