Friday Night SmackDown ranked second for the night for a show advertising Brock Lesnar’ appearance.
The September 12 episode averaged 1,316,000 viewers and 496,000 viewers (0.37) in the 18-49 demographic the USA Network.
The show followed the previous week’s giant audience for AJ Lee’s return and John Cena’s final appearance on SmackDown and led to a 17% in viewership and a 27% drop in the key demographic.
It was still SmackDown’s second largest figures since August 8. They ranked second in the 18-49 demographic among all television programs on Friday behind the Colorado vs. Houston college football game on ESPN, which averaged 2,609,000 viewers and 0.60 in the demo.
SmackDown outranked multiple programs on Fox News and the Indiana State vs. Indiana game on the Big Ten Network.
In the 18-49 demographic, SmackDown saw males fall by 33% from last week while females declined by 22%, which were both the lowest in two weeks.
It was Brock Lesnar’s first advertised appearance since returning at SummerSlam and a appearing unannounced the previous week in Chicago. SmackDown was headlined by Drew McIntyre beating Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes returning to the program.
Data: Programming Insider & Wrestlenomics
