A look at SmackDown viewership before the show goes live on Tuesday nights

The final taped episode of SmackDown (for now, at least) aired just last night (July 14, 2016) on the USA Network and it brought in 2.06 million viewers. Part of the reason the show is going live on Tuesday nights is low viewership totals after the move from the SyFy channel back in January.

They started good:

Jan. 7: 2.75 million
Jan. 14: 2.33 million
Jan. 21: 2.75 million
Jan. 28: 2.72 million

Then fell after a couple months:

April 7: 2.44 million
April 14: 2.35 million
April 21: 2.43 million
April 28: 2.10 million

To where we’re at now:

June 23: 2.14 million
June 30: 2.08 million
July 7: 2.24 million
July 14: 2.06 million

The hope is going live, the brand split, and a fresh outlook on the blue brand will give the show an added air of importance it has been lacking for a number of years. It will likely never be “the flagship,” as Vince McMahon described Monday Night Raw just this week, but there’s no reason to think they can’t improve on the numbers you see here.

Stay tuned.