Preliminary Numbers Indicate a Drop in Viewership for the Blue Brand
As per the preliminary numbers, the latest edition of WWE SmackDown, aired on FOX, has witnessed a decline in its viewership. The show, which aired on August 18, 2023, garnered an average of 2.233 million viewers. This viewership is split between 2.240 million for the first hour and 2.225 million for the second. This marks a noticeable drop from the previous week’s post-SummerSlam episode, which drew in 2.650 million viewers in preliminary overnight numbers. However, it’s worth noting that the final audience for that episode was 2.097 million. The discrepancy can be attributed to the preemption of the show in several markets due to NFL preseason games.
In the key P18-49 ratings demographic, SmackDown secured a preliminary rating of 0.53, a decline from the previous week’s preliminary number of 0.63. The final rating for the previous week’s episode stood at 0.55. Despite the dip, WWE SmackDown still managed to top the ratings for primetime broadcast programming on Friday.
