Raw Rating: Raw rebounds strong with highest ratings in weeks, but several key stats put it in perspective (w/Keller’s Analysis)

Last night’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw rebounded to a 2.04 Nielsen rating, way up from the 1.75 rating last week. It was still below last year’s rating of 2.28. It was the highest rating since Apr. 24, which also drew a 2.04. The rating was still each of the monthly averages for each full month so far this year, and below the yearly average of 2.15.

Viewership in the first hour averaged 3.11 million viewers. The second hour stays steady at 3.11 million. The third hour drew 2.76 million. The first hour viewership was the highest since Apr. 17. The dropoff, though, was steep. Viewership going from 3.11 to 2.76 million from the first to the third hour is a dropoff of 355,000, the largest dropoff since May 8 and well above the 2017 average of 233,000.

The 2.04 is actually below the ten-week rolling average headed into this week of 2.09, but that includes WrestleMania season and the Superstar Shake-up.

Still, three three hours of Raw last night ranked no. 2, no. 3, and no. 6 overall on cable TV last night i the advertiser-coveted 18-49 adult demo, topped only by Love & Hip Hop Atlanta on VH1

Keller’s Analysis: Last week was Memorial Day, which tends to hurt Raw’s viewership, and the previous five Mondays in May faced considerable sports playoff competition from the NBA and NHL. Last night, Raw featured fallout from the Extreme Rules PPV and only went up against the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs game four. Still, they gave away Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe as bookend main events in order to accomplish that viewership number. It’s a lot to give away with a relatively shallow depth chart of top tier main event wrestlers. The Samoa Joe and Paul Heyman segment was so good, it might lead to increased or at least sustained interest in Raw headed into Great Balls of Fire.