WWE RAW TV Ratings Drop Significantly This Week

Last week, WWE had to be ecstatic when the television ratings came in, as the post Royal Rumble edition of the Monday night show drew the largest audience for the show in several months. This week, the reaction was presumably just the opposite, as the show's viewership dropped by over 700,000 in comparison to the January 25th broadcast. WWE RAW this week averaged 3.383 million viewers this week, while last week's episode averaged 4.098 million viewers. The hourly breakdown this week was as follows:

First Hour: 3.592 million viewers Second Hour: 3.464 million viewers Third Hour: 3.094 million viewers

The trend of viewers tuning out throughout the show, which has been the case for months now, continued. This week, though, that trend really stood out with the third hour drawing 500,000 less viewers than the opening hour of the show. Furthermore, the third hour this week was watched by nearly 900,000 less viewers than the third hour last week. Although this week's viewership represents a major drop-off from last week, it seems to be the show returning to the approximate level it has been at now for months, with last week's viewership being an anomaly. Several factors last week likely brought in the bigger-than-usual audience, including interest in the fall-out from the Royal Rumble as well as an appearance by The Rock. RAW's main competition Monday night was coverage of the first in the nation U.S. Presidential Iowa Caucuses. Election coverage from Iowa by both FOX News and CNN easily drew higher viewership than RAW this week. RAW finished number two for the night in the 18-49 demographic, trailing Love And Hip Hop and barely beating CNN's Iowa Caucus coverage in that demographic.