WWE SmackDown Ratings, Viewership See A Decline This Week

WWE SmackDown on FOX this week struggled mightily in the overnight ratings published to Showbuzz Daily. According to the figures, SmackDown came in with an average of 2.374 million viewers. This numbers come from the first hour drawing 2.393 million viewers and the second hour coming in at 2.355 million viewers. This ranked number eight for the night among network competition on Friday night in terms of pure viewership. It is also down almost eight percent from last week's show in the viewership department.

In the key 18-49 age group ratings demographic, SmackDown drew a 0.70 rating, which is in line with what the show has been doing. However, it continues to perform below network competition which have seen an increase in their key demo ratings with more people likely to be at home during the coronavirus pandemic. SmackDown was number three for the night in demo among network competition, being defeated by Shark Tank and Hawaii Five-O.

Notably, SmackDown saw a downturn this week in the 18-34 age group demographic. Despite some recent losses among 18-49 year olds amongst competition, SmackDown has usually retained victory in the younger 18-34 demo. That was not the case this week as SmackDown's rating there dropped to a 0.40. Just like among 18-49 year olds, SmackDown was defeated by Shark Tank and Hawaii Five-O here, too. WWE was tied with MacGyver for third in that demo.

This week's SmackDown featured The Usos vs. The New Day in the main event of the show, Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Drew Gualk, and a replay of the WrestleMania 32 main event between Triple H and Roman Reigns from 2016. ESPN will be airing WrestleMania 32 in its entirety on Sunday evening.

What did you think of this week's edition of WWE SmackDown on FOX? Let us know in the comments section below, and give me a follow on Twitter @ryandroste for all things WWE.