Oct. 18 marked week three on Fox, and the first one without a gimmick like Legends or a Draft to convince viewers to tune in to SmackDown on its new night and network.
And for the second straight week, fewer of them did.
The average viewership across the show’s two hours was down approximately 450K from last week to 2,441,500. The ratings also continued to trend down in every category except women under 50, where they seem to have leveled out since the second hour on Oct. 11.
Here’s a chart of the show’s performance since the move to Fox Fridays (all data via Showbuzz Daily):
There was a baseball playoff game as competition, but Fox Sports bumped that to FS1 and cable numbers aren’t in yet, so it’s too early to quantify the effect the New York Yankees win over the Houston Astros may have had.
Team Blue did beat Raw’s overall numbers from Monday, but not by much. And the first hour on USA (which had the biggest Draft hook) actually had more viewers than SmackDown.
WWE still helped Fox win the night in the ratings among the coveted 18 - 34 demographic, so if there’s a silver lining, that’s it. But the margins there were also as slim as they’ve been since the move.
This would seem to be the range the show will settle in, and that honestly has to be what Vince McMahon and his partners are counting on. There’s no quick fix, and no one else to fire.
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.