Friday, September 8th’s episode of WWE SmackDown on Fox saw a decline in viewership.
Drawing an average of 2.094 million viewers. This is a decrease of 14.3% from the previous week and ties the lowest audience total for a Fox airing of SmackDown since May 5th. The show also received a 0.53 rating in the crucial 18-49 demographic, down 18.5% from the previous week. This is the lowest rating SmackDown has achieved on Fox since May 26th, but it still outperformed other programs on network television.
Compared to the same week in 2022, SmackDown experienced an 11.5% decrease in overall viewers and a 7.2% decrease in the 18-49 demographic. This marks the first time the show has seen a year-over-year decline in both categories since January 6th, and the first time either category has dropped since January 20th.
The absence of John Cena, who was in India for WWE’s Superstar Spectacle live event, and Roman Reigns contributed to the lower viewership. However, Cena is set to return to SmackDown this Friday, September 15th. This will mark the first SmackDown show since the WWE Endeavor merger on September 12th.
What Are The Latest Viewership Figures For WWE SmackDown?
Below, courtesy of Figure Four Online, are the viewership and demographic ratings for the last 11 weeks of WWE SmackDown, along with the 10-week averages for both categories.
This week’s episode was down 11.2% in overall viewership and down 17.2% in the 18-49 demo compared to the recent averages. Despite the decline, SmackDown remains a strong performer for Fox, consistently ranking as the top program on Friday nights.