WWE SmackDown Viewers Rise While Raw Posts Record Lows
Both shows are riding with flat tires on The Road to WrestleMania.
In the latest installment of the ongoing battle between the red and blue brands to decide which show has most captured the interest of the fanbase, Raw continues to disappoint with falling ratings. March 20th's episode posted record lows in viewership, as the 3.04 million people who tuned in made up the smallest audience of a non-major holiday version of the show since 1997, or one where WWE's flagship program wasn't facing important sports competition.
Prior to that, the previous record was from just a few weeks ago on February 17th when only 3.07 million watched Raw without facing counter-programming from a football game, the NBA playoffs or the Olympics.
This is alarming for several reasons, the most important of which is that the cluster of shows that comprise The Road to WrestleMania typically post the highest ratings of the year as interest in the product peaks due to the influx of casual fans who swing back around in preparation for the biggest event on the pro wrestling calendar.
Here's Raw's hour-by-hour breakdown, which shows a significant drop-off in the third hour, which was heavily promoted around the main event of Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman:
8:00 PM - 3.16 million
9:00 PM - 3.12 million
10:00 PM - 2.87 million
Meanwhile, SmackDown enjoyed a slight uptick in viewership, with an average of 2.65 million over the course of the two-hour episode, making it the evening's fourth-highest rated show among original cable programming. While the numbers did slightly rise, they were only a modest increase over the previous week's 2.63 million, continuing a streak of disappointing ratings for the show many fans consider to be the superior of the two.
The blue brand has failed to break 3 million viewers thus far in 2017, which combined with Raw's continuous decrease in its audience has to be a focus of the company moving forward.
With the WrestleMania 33 go-home shows coming up it'll be important to note the trends in viewership for both programs. If WWE is able to put on a successful event in Orlando, that could potentially translate into increased numbers for both Raw and SmackDown.