If WWE was hoping to build upon the outstanding television ratings bump they received last week, they were surely disappointed when this week's television numbers came in. The December 21st edition of RAW averaged 3.378 million viewers, a 15% decrease from last week's show which averaged 3.884 million viewers. The news has to be discouraging for a company that has struggled drastically in maintaining their television audience over recent months. What makes the news even more concerning is the fact that Monday Night Football this week drew-in even less viewers than the the game did last week, so RAW failed to capitalize and capture the displaced football viewers. If one is looking for a positive, the 3.378 million viewers this week is the best number for the show (outside of last week) since early October. So what made viewers tune in last week in such greater numbers compared to this week's show? It was assumed that last week's show drew in some of Monday Night Football's typical viewership since the game's viewership that night was statistically low compared to their average. However, the fact that this week's game drew even less viewers than last week and RAW's rating decreased makes that theory seem less likely. It appears the draws for last week's RAW were a returning Vince McMahon, curiosity concerning Roman Reigns' character shift and storyline with Triple H coming out of TLC, and a main event WWE World Heavyweight Championship match. However, the drop in viewership this week indicates that new viewers last week weren't intrigued enough with the broadcast to stick with the product this week. The hourly breakdown for the December 21st show was as follows:
First Hour: 3.443 million viewers (4.043 million last week) Second Hour: 3.374 million viewers (3.786 million last week) Third Hour: 3.316 million viewers (3.825 million last week)
RAW finished as the fourth most watched show on cable television Monday evening, trailing Monday Night Football, Major Crimes, and SportsCenter.
