SmackDown’s ratings hold up well against NFL Draft

WWE and FOX knew they were in for a scrap on Fri., April 30. It wasn’t an actual game, and they dodged the first round by a night, but the NFL Draft is the biggest event on America’s favorite sport’s off-season calendar. The second and third rounds SmackDown was going head-to-head with are still a big deal.

And it did impact the overall audience numbers, which fell below two million in the overnights (which will be adjusted - almost always upward - on Monday). But it was a slightly less than 6% drop, to an average viewership of 1.9 million. The blue show has seen bigger fluctuations against less high-profile competition in the last couple months.

The numbers were aided, of course, by a Universal title main event with Daniel Bryan’s SmackDown future on the line. A big Roman Reigns match helped the ratings in the key demos to remain unchanged from last week, and to earn FOX a tie with ABC’s Draft coverage for first place in both the 18 - 34 and 18 - 49 age groups.

Here are the fast nationals:

Showbuzz Daily

And here’s our running tracker of overnight numbers for the current season. You can also access the tab of year one numbers here (all data still via Showbuzz Daily).

Along with just the usual competition, a nostalgia-tinged show next week should bring back the viewers. Can it push the overnight ratings higher, too?

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