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WWE News
Ratings News: Raw rating drops again to an 11 year low for April (w/Keller Analysis) Apr 15, 2008 - 4:55:19 PM
Last night's WWE Raw drew a 3.2 rating, down from the 3.3 last week which was also down from the recent average. It drew a total viewership of 4.5 million, with the usual median age of 36 and just over two-thirds male.
Without competition from the NCAA men's basketball finals, the main reasons to look at for the ratings drop would be the absence of John Cena in an announced match or on the show at all, the pre-taped nature of the show, or JBL and William Regal as wrestlers not typically featured in Raw main events.
Raw drew a 3.9 last year on the second Raw in April. You have to go back five years to find a rating as low as 3.5 in April. As usual, you have go to back to 1997 - more than ten years - to find an April Raw rating lower than 3.5, much less 3.2.
WK ANALYSIS: The rating is a bit alarming for WWE. I'd put most of my money on Cena's absence being the reason for a certain segment of the audience not tuning in throughout the show. The NHL playoffs are not an excuse as only Detroit, Nashville, Denver, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh were the U.S. markets involved in games last night.
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