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Sean Rueter has been thinking too much about pro wrestling since at least WrestleMania I, and blogging about it for SBNation & Cageside Seats since around WrestleMania 28.
SmackDown faced the same challenges last Friday that it — and everything else on television — has faced for the last few weeks: competition from the NBA and NHL Playoffs.
On May 23, WWE’s blue show grew its overall audience, but saw it’s share of the 18-49 demographic slip. That per Programming Insider, who report that last week’s SmackDown was watched by 1,383,000 with a .33 rating among 18-49 year olds. That’s a 7% improvement over the previous week in total viewers, and a little more than an 8% drop in the demo. The rating is a new low for the year, and stretching back to last Nov. 15.
Basketball was the bigger factor, with Game 2 of the New York Knicks/Indiana Pacers Eastern Conference Finals series winning the night handily for TNT with 5.84 million viewers and a 1.83 rating. The Inside the NBA post-game (2.83 million and .78) and ESPN’s coverage of Game 2 of hockey’s Dallas Stars/Edmonton Oilers Western Conference Finals series (1.4 million and .40) also outpaced SmackDown in the ratings, leaving WWE in 4th among all original programming on the night.
This week’s show could be free of competition from either league if Oklahoma City and Florida close out their respective NBA and NHL series tonight. Or it could face a Game 6 in one or both if Minnesota and/or Florida win on Wednesday. We’ll see what happens, and how SmackDown does... then once again update our running tally of the past year’s worth of the show’s results:
May 24,2024 - 2.15 million viewers / .56 demo rating
May 31 - 2.31 / .65
June 7 - 2.21 / .61
June 14 - 1.96 / 52
June 21 - 2.36 / .73
June 28 - 2.26 / .66
July 5 - 2.26 / .66
July 12 - 2.36 / .70
July 19 - 2.31 / .65
July 26 - 2.06 / .52
Aug. 2 - 2.18 / .60
Aug. 9 - 2.27 / .64
Aug. 16 - 2.25 / .61
Aug. 23 - 2.05 / .56
Aug. 30 - 2.05 / .53
Sept. 6 - 1.77 / .45
Sept. 13* - 1.72 / .55
Sept. 20 - 1.49 / .45
Sept. 27 - 1.57 / .45
Oct. 4 - 1.52 / .47
Oct. 11 - 1.65 / .49
Oct. 18 - 1.38 / .42
Oct. 25 - 1.42 / .43
Nov. 1 - 1.43 / .42
Nov. 8 - 1.53 / .47
Nov. 15 - 1.23 / .32
Nov. 22 - 1.58 / .46
Nov. 29 - 1.34 / .40
Dec. 6 - 1.49 /.44
Dec. 13 - 1.53 / .47
Dec. 20 - 1.33 / .37
Dec. 27 - 1.44 / .41
Jan. 3, 2025** - 1.53 / .45
Jan. 10 - 1.44 / .40
Jan. 17 - 1.40 / . 42
Jan. 24 - 1.44 / .44
Jan. 31 - 1.58 / .51
Feb. 7 - 1.51 / .48
Feb. 14 - 1.38 / .42
Feb. 21 - 1.74 / .51
Feb. 28 - 1.73 / .52
March 7 - 1.74 / .52
March 14 - 1.57 / .52
March 21 - 1.46 / .39
March 28 - 1.35 / .40
April 4 - 1.58 / .47
April 11 - 1.55 / .45
April 18 - 1.74 / .55
April 25 - 1.60 / .51
May 2 - 1.41 / .37
May 9 - 1.46 / .41
May 16 - 1.29 / .36
May 23 - 1.38 / .33
* Moved from FOX to USA Network (broadcast to cable)
** Added a third hour
For complete results from the latest SmackDown, our live blog is here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here.