The World Series sent SmackDown and Collision into several historical lows for the programming.
Game 6 & 7 of the L.A. Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays were played on Friday and Saturday against WWE and AEW’s programming, leading to SmackDown’s all-time low viewership, and Collision falling to its smallest 18-49 audience.
The October 31 edition of SmackDown from Salt Lake City fell to 933,000 viewers and 272,000 viewers (0.20) in the 18-49 demographic on the USA Network. Both figures are the lowest in SmackDown’s history.
The show was already handicapped, airing on Halloween, but Game 6 added further erosion to SmackDown’s audience. The World Series averaged 17,429,000 viewers and a 3.52 rating in the key demo on Fox and 313,000 viewers and a 0.09 on Fox Deportes.
Despite a 19% drop in viewership and a 31% decline in the 18-49 demo, SmackDown still ranked first among cable programming on Friday night ahead of a college football game between Syracuse and North Carolina on ESPN.
Male viewership in the 18-49 demo dropped by 32% with an average of 175,000 viewers, while females fell from 134,000 viewers last week to 94,000 and decreased by 30%.
Internationally on Netflix, SmackDown only ranked among the top ten shows in Canada.
Saturday’s episode of Collision aired against the mammoth seventh game of the World Series and resulted in the show’s all-time low in the 18-49 demographic.
The November 1 taped show averaged 217,000 viewers and 41,000 (0.03) in the 18-49 demographic on TNT and excludes viewership data on HBO Max.
Collision’s overall audience only fell by five percent, but the 18-49 audience fell by 24% from last week and was the show’s lowest figure in history.
The 18-49 audience was fascinating as females dropped by 52% from last week, from 27,000 viewers to 13,000. However, males in the demo were identical to last week, with both weeks averaging 27,000 viewers and unfazed by the World Series.
Game 7 between the Dodgers and Blue Jays attracted an audience of 24,829,000 viewers and a 5.85 rating in the 18-49 demographic on Fox. It’s worth noting that this only accounts for the audience in the prime-time window, ending at 11 p.m. ET, and the game lasted another hour, meaning the audience was even higher after Collision.
Collision ranked #21 among cable programming in prime time, airing against multiple college football games across broadcast and cable, as well as an NBA game between Golden State and Indiana on NBA TV.
The show returns to a live format for this Saturday’s airing from Houston, Texas, at the Bayou Music Center.
Data: Programming Insider & Wrestlenomics
