Friday Night SmackDown was the #1 show on television this Friday for the three-hour tape-delayed show in Saudi Arabia.
The June 27 show aired live on Netflix for international viewers and on a seven-hour tape delay on the USA Network, averaging 1,450,000 viewers and 550,000 viewers (0.41) in the 18-49 demographic.
The show dropped by five percent in overall viewership but increased by eight percent in the core demo, which outranked everything on television on Friday.
There was a 19% gain among males 18-49 from the previous week, and it was the largest number of males in that demo since April 25 for SmackDown. Females in the demo had a slight drop of three percent.
SmackDown aired against the NHL Draft on ESPN, which ranked second on cable with 534,000 viewers and 0.16 in the 18-49 demographic. SmackDown was ahead of Celebrity Jeopardy on ABC, Fire Country on CBS, and Dateline Classic on NBC among network shows.
The show in Riyadh included three title matches and was headlined by a Last Woman Standing match between Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax for the Women’s Championship. The show closed with CM Punk performing a “rap” on John Cena before their match at Night of Champions.
Data: Programming Insider & Wrestlenomics
