Raw ratings hold up surprisingly well on SyFy against Olympics

Raw was bumped to SyFy on Mon., Feb 7 due to USA’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, and the show went head-to-head with coverage of the Beijing Games across all NBCUniversal channels & platforms. The ratings forecast was all doom and gloom.

And those circumstances did result in the lowest viewership and second worst 18-49 year old demographic rating in Raw’s history. The show performed better than a lot of people expected, however — and WWE and their partners at NBCUniversal are probably pretty pleased as a result.

The total average audience of 1.39 million was a ~25% drop from Jan. 31’s Royal Rumble fallout show, and the .36 key demo rating a more than 23% week-to-week decline. But Raw was second only to the Olympics among cable originals, and that’s why nobody is sweating a comparison to last week.

The Feb. 7 numbers probably give us a good idea of WWE’s Monday night baseline, too. Because there was very little fluctuation across the entire show. Check out this hourly breakdown:

Hour One: 1.376 million / .36
Hour Two: 1.449 million / .36
Hour Three: 1.337 million / .36

Between broadcast and cable channels, primetime Olympics coverage netted 10.52 million viewers and a 1.99 among 18-49 year olds. The USA portion accounted for 2.07 million and .40 of that, which is a bigger audience than Raw averages, but a lower demo score. The Games attract more women and better advertisers than WWE, but still... these numbers don’t hurt Vince McMahon & Nick Khan’s negotiating position on their next TV rights deals at all.

Still on SyFy next week, but that shouldn’t cause too much worry in Stamford.

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