Raw held onto its viewers this week

No “season premiere” gimmick for the Nov. 1 Raw, but the lack of one didn’t hurt the numbers. Ratings and viewership were both nearly identical to what the Oct. 25 episode that launched WWE’s latest “New Era” drew.

Raw’s audience averaged 1.689 million across its three hours this week, a less than 2% increase from the week before. The average rating in the 18 - 49 year old came it at the same .47 as last week.

The pattern was a little different than that “season premiere”, with total viewers slightly down at the start but holding better throughout the night. That might be worth noting since WWE promoted that the latest Becky Lynch/Bianca Belair match would start this Monday’s show, while a show-long angle with WWE champion Big E closed it.

Here are the hourly numbers:

Hour One: 1.724 million / .47
Hour Two: 1.689 million / .48
Hour Three: 1.655 million / .45

Competition was what Raw is used to this time of year - football. The Kansas City Chiefs vs. New York Giants Monday Night Football game was watched by 13.92 million on ESPN and ESPN2, and pulled a 4.04 in the demo. Everything that finished ahead of WWE and USA was NFL-related.

Next week will feature a Kevin Owens/Seth Rollins match that was set-up on Nov. 1’s show. We’ll see how it does against Geno Mrosko (and Seth)’s Chicago Bears, and my Pittsburgh Steelers.

For complete results and this week’s Raw live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here. For video highlights of the show click here.

Numbers via Showbuzz Daily