Raw viewers down big again despite Payback fallout

WWE launching its own Network changed the game on pay-per-view (PPV), making it cheaper and easier than ever to access major monthly events they spend weeks building up to on television. Because of that, viewership for said television programming has also been affected.

It used to be a certainty that episodes of Monday Night Raw would see at least a slight bump the night after a PPV, if only so fans who may not have ordered could find out what happened and see the fallout. That’s no longer the case and this week’s show provides further evidence of that.

Indeed, Raw this week, one night after Payback, garnered just 2.86 million viewers, down from last week’s 3.00 million.

Here’s the hourly breakdown:

Hour one: 2.92 million
Hour two: 3.04 million
Hour three: 2.65 million

There’s plenty of sporting competition right now, what with the NBA and NHL Playoffs ongoing and the MLB season hitting its second month. Still, WWE hasn’t seen numbers this low during this time of year in over 20 years.

Whatever can save them?

For complete results and the live blog for Raw this week click here. To read a complete recap and review of all the night’s events click here. For a full playlist of the show click here.