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As we’ve been saying for weeks, WWE has settled into a groove on Tuesday nights.
In terms of number of viewers, SmackDown stayed right in that groove on Valentine’s Day, with 2,626,000 people tuned in to the witness the fallout of Feb. 12’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) - a number that’s almost identical to last week’s 2,627,000. That was good enough for the eighth largest audience among cable shows.
In ratings from the 18 - 49 year old demographic, the blue brand was also down slightly at .87 (from Feb. 7’s .91). That was good for second place, behind History Channel’s Curse of Oak Island.
On the one hand, this is little disappointing, as WWE and USA Network were probably hoping more people would tune in to see a new World champ in Bray Wyatt, in a title defense against John Cena they starting advertised during Raw. On the other, it was Valentine’s night, and some percentage of the prospective audience probably thought it would be more romantic to do something other than be sports entertained.
We’ll see if more people are lured in next Tueday by the intrigue surrounding Randy Orton and who will face Wyatt at Mania.
For complete results and the live blog for SmackDown this week click here. To read a complete recap & review of all the night’s events click here. For a full playlist of the show click here.