It’s WrestleMania 41 fallout show did some of its best ratings since leaving broadcast television last fall. But even last week’s SmackDown would have suffered against the competition WWE’s blue show face on April 25.
Per Programming Insider, last Friday’s SmackDown was watched by 1,599,000 and had a .51 rating with 18-49 year olds. That’s an 8% drop in the overall audience and a 7% decline in the demo number. And it’s not hard to guess at the cause(s).
Night two of the NFL Draft drew almost 7.5 million viewers with a 1.97 rating across three networks (ABC, ESPN2 & NFL) on Friday night. The basketball and hockey post-seasons are in full swing, with ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Playoff clash between Boston & Orlando the marquee game on Friday night. It had an audience of 2.1 million with a .58 in the demo. SmackDown finished third on cable and fourth overall on the night, with the acronyms NFL, NBA, and NHL making up most of the other entries in the top ten of both charts.
No Draft this week, but hockey and basketball will remain a factor for the next several weeks. We’ll see how that impacts SmackDown’s numbers, then add it to our running tally of the past year’s worth of the show’s results:
* Moved from FOX to USA Network (broadcast to cable)
** Added a third hour
To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here.