WWE won the night on Friday as SmackDown ranked first in the 18-49 demographic.
SmackDown was able to lead the USA Network to a victory without a significant boost in viewers, but rather, having a night without the NBA or NHL playoffs.
The May 30 episode of SmackDown from Knoxville, Tennessee, averaged 1,383,000 viewers – identical to the previous week – and averaged 459,000 viewers (0.34) in the 18-49 demo.
The key demo increased by three percent and was enough to outrank two games in the College Softball World Series (0.17 for both) for the top spot on cable. It also beat all network programming in the demo, including Shark Tank (0.25) and 20/20 (0.24).
The show featured John Cena and Cody Rhodes appearing in the final segment following Rhodes’ return at Saturday Night’s Main Event the previous weekend.
On Netflix internationally, the show ranked in the top ten in two countries, Canada and Bolivia, where it was eighth in both countries.
This Friday’s episode of SmackDown will avoid the NBA Finals, but will air against Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. The June 13 episode of SmackDown will go against Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Data: Programming Insider, Wrestlenomics & Tudum
