After two weeks of encouraging numbers coinciding with the debut of the ThunderDome, WWE Raw fell back to normal levels this week.
Without the luxury of following a pay-per-view and competition from the NBA playoffs, WWE Raw fell 9 percent in viewership with 1,725,000 viewers on the USA Network this week.
The show also fell 17 percent in the 18-49 demo dropping from a 0.58 rating last week to a 0.48.
For the first time in the “Thunderdome Era” of Raw, none of the hours topped two million viewers. The first hour averaged 1,762,000 viewers compared to the last two weeks that saw 2.1 million viewers open the show.
The interesting part is that Raw increased in hour two to 1,800,000 viewers and offset the level of the decline from the first hour to the third.
In hour three, WWE Raw fell 10 percent to 1,613,000 viewers.
While the show took place on Labor Day, last year’s Raw was barely affected with 2,507,000 viewers (down 20,000 from the week prior) and that went against a College Football game that did 5.6 million viewers.
It was Raw’s lowest-performing show since the August 17th go-home episode for SummerSlam, which was the last Raw to take place at the WWE Performance Center.
The final four episodes of Raw at the Performance Center averaged 1,674,000 and a 0.485 demo rating. So, this week’s number is still ahead of the viewers and right at the same demo rating.
While female viewership was down 28 percent with 12-34s and 15 percent among 18-49s, those that did tune in stuck with the show throughout the three hours. With females 18-49, that demo grew throughout the show and increased 12 percent in the third hour compared to the first. Females 12-34 stayed even in the third hour.
The week-to-week decline was largest with adults 18-34 dropping by 30 percent this week and fell by 16 percent in the third hour. Males 18-49 dropped by 21 percent and the female 12-34 demo was down 28 percent.
This week’s show didn’t advertise anything in advance until the day of the show when they revealed three matches late in the afternoon with Dominik Mysterio vs. Murphy (that was announced as a Street Fight during Raw), Randy Orton vs. Keith Lee, and a Raw Underground fight between Aleister Black and Kevin Owens.
The top two cable programs on Monday were the two NBA playoff games. The early game between Boston and Toronto averaged 2,706,000 viewers (1.05 in 18-49), and the late-game that started at 9:12 pm between the Clippers and Nuggets did 3,453,000 (1.39).
Next week, Raw will also face competition with the return of Monday Night Football and a doubleheader with Pittsburgh vs. New York Giants, and the Tennessee Titans vs. Denver Broncos.
Here is a breakdown of the demos:
Source: Showbuzz Daily
ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.48 (-17 percent)
Hour 1-3: -6 percent
FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.35 (-15 percent)
Hour 1-3: +12 percent
MALES 18-49
This week: 0.60 (-21 percent)
Hour 1-3: -14 percent
ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.23 (-30 percent)
Hour 1-3: -16 percent
FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.18 (-28 percent)
Hour 1-3: Even
MALES 12-34
This week: 0.32 (-8.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: -12 percent
ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.59 (-17 percent)
Hour 1-3: -5 percent
ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.84 (-4.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: -8 percent
