WWE RAW Viewership Down Slightly Amidst Heavy Competition

All things considered, this has to be considered a minor success. Here's why...

Shawn Michaels Randy Orton RAW
WWE

WWE RAW's overall viewership dropped slightly this week, though the decline should probably have been stiffer given the intense competition.

RAW fell from last week's 1.72 million to hit an average of 1.64 million viewers across its three hours. This breaks down as follows:-

Hour one: 1.73 million viewers

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Hour two: 1.70 million viewers

Hour three: 1.50 million viewers.

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The overall figure is the fourth-lowest in the show's history. It should be noted, however, the RAW was going up against the Democratic National Convention (which drew over 18 million viewers across various networks) as well as the NBA Playoffs, making this a minor net positive on the whole.

Quarter-hour viewing figures are yet to emerge, making it impossible to identify the night's biggest winners and losers.

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As far as the all-important 18-49 demographic goes, this increased slightly to 0.48. An encouraging story is that the show fared considerably better than usual with younger viewers, drawing a 0.33 rating for those aged 18-34 in its first hour - the highest in well over a month.

This week's show was the SummerSlam 2020 go-home episode, built largely around Shawn Michaels' return to confront WWE Title contender Randy Orton.

Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.