Friday Night SmackDown fell to a seven-week low for this past week’s taped edition of the program.
The December 19 episode averaged 995,000 viewers and 286,000 viewers (0.21) in the 18-49 demographic on the USA Network.
The audience dropped by 20% from the previous week, while the key demo audience fell from a 0.26 to 0.21, representing the lowest figures for SmackDown since October 31.
The October 31 episode was handicapped by airing on Halloween and against Game 6 of the World Series between the L.A. Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.
This past Friday’s show ranked third on cable against ESPN’s coverage of the Alabama vs. Oklahoma football game, which averaged 7,109,000 viewers on cable and 7,672,000 on ABC. The pre-game coverage was ranked second, and SmackDown topped the rest of cable on Friday.
SmackDown also faced competition from the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul fight on Netflix. Historically, Jake Paul’s fights have hurt SmackDown, as his fight with Mike Tyson led to a poor number in November 2024 when SmackDown aired on Fox, even though it didn’t air directly against the main event on Netflix.
This past Friday’s episode was taped four nights earlier in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with this week’s episode airing in a taped format from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The show expands to a three-hour format in January with a live episode from Buffalo.
Data: Wrestlenomics & Programming Insider
