The 4th of July holiday had an obvious impact on SmackDown’s viewership as the show fell significantly while still topping cable.
The July 4 taped edition from Pittsburgh averaged 1,160,000 viewers and 429,000 viewers (0.32) in the 18-49 demographic on the USA Network.
It was the first two-hour edition of the show after experimenting with a three-hour version at the beginning of the year.
The holiday caused SmackDown to drop 20 percent as it was the lowest audience the show has ever posted for a non-preempted edition of the show, essentially excluding the shows that aired on FS1 due to the MLB playoffs when it aired on Fox.
The 18-49 audience fell by 22 percent it its lowest mark since a “Best of” show aired on Fox on December 29, 2023.
The core demo showed an interesting difference as the male audience fell off a cliff with a 35 percent decrease from the previous week. On the other hand, the female audience was steady and grew by three percent from last week.
Despite the low audience, SmackDown ranked first among cable originals in prime time. It topped Fox News’ Big Independence Day Special, CNN’s 4th of July special, and a Premier Cup game on ESPN.
In the demo, SmackDown ranked third among all television programming that night behind the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC.
The show returns to its live format this Friday with a show in Nashville, Tennessee, featuring an appearance by Jelly Roll.
Data: Programming Insider & Wrestlenomics
