The latest episode of Raw on Monday night drew an average of 1.82 million viewers, holding almost steady with the previous week’s totals. However, the viewing pattern was quite different from last week’s, likely due to the NBA playoffs. Raw managed to beat all other shows on network TV that aired the same night, including American Idol, The Voice, and 911.
Raw’s average rating for the night was a 0.58 in the 18-49 demographic and a 0.43 in the 18-34 demographic. The viewership was down by only 3,000 from last week, representing a 0.2 percent drop, while the 18-49 and 18-34 demographics each witnessed a two percent decrease.
The first two hours of Raw were strong, but the third hour witnessed a significant drop in viewership as the Warriors-Kings game on TNT began, drawing 4,322,000 viewers and a 1.54 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Raw was fourth on cable for the night, ranking behind the two NBA games and the Inside the NBA Playoffs show.
In terms of cable sports competition, Raw beat Boston vs. Florida in the NHL playoffs on ESPN and Los Angeles vs. Edmonton on ESPN. However, the NBA playoffs likely affected Raw’s viewership pattern, as the decline ranged from seven percent to 33 percent across different age and gender demographics in the third hour.
Despite the third-hour drop, Raw showed a 10 percent increase in viewership from last year’s similar sports competition and impressive year-to-year growth of 23 percent in the 18-49 demographic and 34 percent in the 18-34 demographic. If the loss of cable homes over the past year is taken into account, the actual gains were even higher, marking phenomenal growth for the show.
The declines in viewership witnessed in the third hour likely had a lot to do with the start of the Warriors-Kings game, which led to the match featuring Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Matt Riddle against Judgment Day not holding the audience as well as it had in recent weeks. Overall, Raw performed well on the night, beating out all other shows on network TV and delivering impressive growth year-to-year.
