Friday Night SmackDown fell to its lowest overall viewership since the return of fans to the arena while still beating all network programming in the key demographic.
The May 27th edition of SmackDown from North Little Rock averaged 1,878,000 viewers and approximately 561,000 (0.43) in the 18-49 demographic, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
AEW Rampage Friday on TNT at 6:30pm:
341,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.14 (183,000)WWE Smackdown on Fox at 8pm:
1,878,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.43 (561,000)📊 https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/IKt3nX0Sr7
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) May 31, 2022
Overall viewership declined by 7.5 percent and the 18-49 demo dropped by four percent.
It was SmackDown’s lowest viewership average since July 2, 2021, which was an episode staged inside of the ThunderDome and coincided with a holiday weekend in the U.S.
That said, SmackDown topped all network programs in the 18-49 demo, which was alleviated by several networks airing repeats and no episode of Shark Tank on ABC, which typically competes for the top spot with SmackDown.
Television was dominated by the NBA conference final game between Miami and Boston which averaged 7,188,000 viewers and a staggering 2.41 rating in the 18-49 demo that began at 8:39 p.m. ET. The NHL playoff game between Colorado and St. Louis averaged 1,646,000 and 0.55 in 18-49 on TNT at 8:10 p.m. and bumped AEW Rampage to an earlier start time.
SmackDown suffered a giant 37 percent loss with adults 18-34 from the previous week’s episode but also experienced a 16 percent increase among adults 35-49.
In Canada, SmackDown averaged 145,100 viewers and 62,500 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. The sports chart was led by the NHL game between Colorado and St. Louis with SmackDown finishing seventh in overall viewership and sixth in the demo.
