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Last week, SmackDown’s audience was the smallest it had been all year.
It wasn’t necessarily shocking. There’s always a bit of a post-WrestleMania lull, and live sports have become a factor again for the first time since the NFL season ended thanks to the NBA playoffs. But still. WWE was clearly hoping to combat those factors with the Superstar Shake-Up, and it didn’t seem to work.
And on May 2, where the blue brand added a late addition from the Shake-Up in Chris Jericho and main evented with a United States title match based on Y2J’s long-running program from Raw with Kevin Owens... viewership shrank to 2.3 million.
That was the fourth largest audience among cable originals, behind two basketball games and Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News. In demographic ratings, SmackDown was fourth (with a .75) behind the games and the Inside The NBA studio show.
WWE went head-to-head with a good game in Boston vs. Washington, which featured a buzzworthy performance by Celtics’ star Isaiah Thomas... so maybe next week won’t be as bad? On the other hand, next week is tape-delayed from London...
While you hope for the best, here’s a rundown of the blue brand’s audiences this year:
April 25 - 2.49 million
April 18 - 2.54 million
April 11 - 3.11 million
April 4 - 2.89 million
March 29 - 2.7 million
March 21 - 2.65 million
March 14 - 2.63 million
March 7 - 2.74 million
February 28 - 2.57 million
Feb. 21 - 2.79 million
Feb. 14 - 2.63 million
Feb. 7 - 2.63 million
Jan. 31 - 2.82 million
Jan. 24 - 2.56 million
Jan. 17 - 2.65 million
Jan. 10 -2.53 million
Jan. 3 - 2.59 million
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.