Friday Night SmackDown returned to the USA Network after two weeks on Syfy due to the Winter Olympics and ranking second on cable.
The February 27 edition from Louisville averaged 1,379,000 viewers and 463,000 viewers (0.34) in the 18-49 demographic on the USA Network.
It was the show’s largest numbers since February 6 (its last episode on USA before the Olympics) and grew its audience 24% from the week prior, with a 17% uptick in the core demographic.
The show ranked second on cable behind the NBA on ESPN, which averaged 1,539,000 viewers and 0.40 in 18-49.
SmackDown’s female viewership in the 18-49 and 25-54 were the highest among prime-time cable programming on Friday.
Adults 18-34 actually dropped slightly from 0.18 to 0.17 from last week’s Syfy episode.
Adults 25-54 grew from 0.41 to 0.44.
It also ranked on Netflix’s top ten in six countries, including Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
This Friday’s episode is promoting an Undisputed WWE Championship match between Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes.
Data: Programming Insider & Wrestlenomics
