WWE SmackDown Ratings: Viewership Up for Thunderdome Reveal

WWE unveiled their new Thunderdome set on Friday night, and the big reveal did what was intended: [...]

By Ryan Droste

WWE unveiled their new Thunderdome set on Friday night, and the big reveal did what was intended: bump-up the Friday NIght SmackDown ratings. According to the overnights posted to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown drew an average of 2.168 million viewers this week. Hour number one came in with 2.189 million viewers and hour number two drew 2.146 million viewers. Final numbers will be released on Monday.

This viewership figure is up a little over eight percent from last week's show, which drew 2.002 million viewers. It is just the second time since June that the show has eclipsed two million viewers. There was a big curiosity factor in what the Thunderdome would look like, and that obviously translated to viewers for WWE.

In terms of pure viewership, SmackDown finished seventh for the night among network competition. The show was outdrawn in viewership by Shark Tank, 20/20, MacGyver, Magnum P.I., Blue Bloods, and Dateline NBC.

In the coveted 18-49 age group ratings demographic, SmackDown finished first place for the night on network television with a 0.60. This is the same key demo rating that SmackDown drew last week, and it is only the second time since May that the show has eclipsed a 0.50.

SmackDown this week featured more in the story between Braun Strowman and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, as well as an Intercontinental Championship match between AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy that saw Hardy walk away with the gold. That match happened in the second hour of the show, so it is interesting that the second hour did less viewers than hour number one. SmackDown had seen their second hour viewership surpass the first hour in most weeks recently. This points to a larger audience tuning in this week to see the Thunderdome when the show began and then tuning out.

What did you think of last night's WWE SmackDown? Let us know in the comments section below, and give me a follow on Twitter @ryandroste for all things WWE!

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