WWE SmackDown Rating Up For Second Week In A Row
Friday's show from Manchester slightly improved on chaotic edition last week.
WWE SmackDown's viewership increased for the second week in a row, according to overnight figures published by Showbuzz Daily.
The 8 November episode of the blue brand, in spite of being pre-taped in Manchester, England, averaged 2.617 million viewers, up almost 100,000 on last week's tally.
The 1 November edition saw a significant jump following a week shunted to FS1, helped along by the travel chaos in Saudi Arabia making the show entirely unpredictable. With everything back to normal - and last night's episode effectively the mundanity originally advertised for seven days prior - a drop in the figure wouldn't have been entirely surprising.
Instead, in addition to the increased viewership, SmackDown's rating in the key 18-49 demographic grew, moving slightly from a 0.8 to 0.85. As with all previous episodes since the move to FOX, Friday's show was the highest-rated programme in this demo across primetime networks.
If the increase in viewership can be attributed to the terrific NXT invasion episode of last week, those tuning in for more of the same will have been a little disappointed. Last night's SmackDown concluded with Braun Strowman and boxer Tyson Fury teaming up to batter The B-Team - not exactly Adam Cole vs. Daniel Bryan.