Friday Night SmackDown hits lowest audience since Jan. 23, still ranks #3 on cable

Photo Courtesy: WWE

Friday Night SmackDown continued the latest trend of pro wrestling audiences declining as the show hit a three-month low.

The May 1 episode from Tulsa, Oklahoma, averaged 1,153,000 viewers and 340,000 viewers (0.25) in the 18-49 demographic on the USA Network.

The audience dropped by 21%, and the key demo audience fell by 22% over the previous week – both are SmackDown’s lowest mark since January 23.

In the 18-49 audience, male viewers dropped from 276,000 to 209,000 or 24%. Females in the demo dropped from 154,000 to 127,000, or a decline of 18%.

Adults 18-34 went from 0.16 last week to 0.14, and 25-54 from 0.44 to 0.35.

SmackDown still ranked third among cable originals on Friday behind the NHL playoffs on ESPN & ESPN2. SmackDown ranked first on cable among teenagers 12-17.

On Netflix, SmackDown ranked among the top ten programs in Canada & Trinidad and Tobago.

Data: Wrestlenomics & Programming Insider

About John Pollock 7162 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.