SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE Raw fell hard to one of the lowest TV ratings in the 23-year history of the show Monday night against the NBA Finals.
WWE Raw TV Ratings Tracking
June 13: WWE Raw drew a 2.03 TV rating, down 11 percent from last week’s 2.28 rating.
It was easily the lowest-rated show of the year. Historically, it was in the territory of an all-time low for Raw. (Research Report on 19-year low.)
Raw was especially hit hard in the key demographics.
- Adults 18-49 fell 14% from last week, falling below a 1.0 household rating
- Males 18-34 fell 15% from last week, also falling below a 1.0 household rating
- Males 18-49 fell 21% from last week. The show scored a 1.17 m18-49 rating compared to 1.48 last week.
– Raw’s three hours averaged fewer than 3.0 million viewers for the first time since November of last year.
The November 23, 2015 episode averaged 2.964 million viewers. This week’s Raw averaged 2.970 million viewers to avoid being in the all-time-low category.
Raw’s average of 2.970 million viewers was down 9 percent from last week’s audience. The show started sluggish in the first two hours, then fell hard in the third hour.
- First Hour: 3.043 million viewers (year-low)
- Second Hour: 3.109 million viewers (year-low)
- Third Hour: 2.758 million viewers (year-low / 11.3% decline from 2H)
– The NBA Finals drew 20 million viewers on ABC. The episode of NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” with Zach Gowen drew 7 million viewers.
Caldwell’s Analysis: Pick a concern. Yes, it was a pre-PPV episode against the NBA Finals, but the product is not hot right now. The only feud consistently drawing interest right now is John Cena vs. A.J. Styles.
Well it’s up to Roman and Rollins to bring the heat
It was still the most watched show on cable last night.
It was not. TNT’s drama drew more viewers. [JC]
“Styles-Cena Contract Signing
One minute before the top of the hour, Michael Cole was standing in the ring to hype another WrestleMania-quality match this Sunday at Money in the Bank. He said this match is 15 years in the making. First, Cole introduced the 15-time WWE champion, John Cena.
[Q9 — third hour] Cena bounced out on-stage, then stormed the ring firing up the crowd. On commentary, Saxton went to a replay from two weeks ago of A.J. Styles acting like he was friendly with Cena, until turning on him to set up this new feud…”
“Caldwell’s Analysis: Pick a concern. Yes, it was a pre-PPV episode against the NBA Finals, but the product is not hot right now. The only feud consistently drawing interest right now is John Cena vs. A.J. Styles.”
This seems to be a contradiction. IF, Cena and Styles is supposedly “drawing interest right now”, then why did the viewership drop 11.3% as their feud build was in the third hour?!
Their segment was the first 15 minutes of the hour. There was another 55 minutes in the hour. The rest of the hour dropped completely off the table vs. the NBA Finals. If you look at the quarter-hour reports we published for the previous two Raw episodes, Cena-Styles was the only feud that drew substantial interest, in fact the audience grew from Week 1 to 2 to match the D-Bryan Retirement Segment from February. [JC]