WWE SmackDown Holds Top Spot Despite Steep Viewer Decline and Key Demo Rating Plunge in Post-Payback Episode

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WWE SmackDown Ranks #1 Despite Significant Drop In Viewership and Key Demo Rating for the Post-Payback Episode

WWE SmackDown Ranks #1 Despite Significant Drop In Viewership and Key Demo Rating for the Post-Payback Episode

Friday’s live post-Payback edition of WWE SmackDown drew an average of 2.094 million viewers on FOX, according to Nielsen, via Wrestlenomics. This final number is down 14.28% from the previous week’s final viewership of 2.443 million viewers for the Payback go-home show.

Friday’s SmackDown drew a 0.53 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This is down 18.46% from the previous week’s 0.65 rating. This past week’s 0.53 key demo rating represents 692,000 18-49 viewers, which is down 18.39% from the 848,000 18-49 viewers that the 0.65 key demo rating drew the previous week.

SmackDown ranked #1 on broadcast TV for Friday night, despite the drops and for the seventh week in a row, according to spoilertv.com. Friday’s show drew the lowest key demo viewership since the Night of Champions go-home show on May 26. This is the second-lowest total audience of the year so far for FOX airings, tied with the 25th Anniversary special for WWE Hall of Famer Edge on August 18, and the sixth-lowest key demo rating of the year so far, tied with two other episodes. Friday’s viewership was below the 2022 FOX average, while the key demo rating was above the 2022 FOX average for the blue brand. Friday’s SmackDown viewership was down 14.28% from the previous week, and the key demo rating was down 18.46% from the previous week.

Viewership for Friday’s SmackDown episode was down 11.53% from the same week in 2022, while Friday’s 18-49 key demo rating was down 7.01% from the same week in 2022. The 2022 episode was the post-Clash at The Castle show.

Friday’s post-Payback edition of SmackDown on FOX aired live from the TG Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, with the following line-up advertised ahead of time – fallout from Payback, WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY and Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair and Shotzi, Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Finn Balor and Damian Priest vs. Ridge Holland and Butch in a non-title match, plus Jimmy Uso vs. AJ Styles, which was the main event.

Below is our 2023 SmackDown Viewership Tracker, along with the Top 10 moments from Friday’s show:

  • January 6 Episode: 2.257 million viewers with a 0.53 rating in the 18-49 demographic
  • January 13 Episode: 2.326 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic
  • January 20 Episode: 2.257 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic
  • January 27 Episode: 2.544 million viewers with a 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demographic
  • February 3 Episode: 2.384 million viewers with a 0.61 rating

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