SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE Smackdown Live this week on USA Network drew a 1.72 rating, a notch below the 2018 average headed into this week of 1.75 and below the ten-week rolling average of 1.75. The viewership was 2.613 million viewers.
The 1.72 rating this week is below the year-ago rating of 1.96 (2-21-17) and and below the two-years-ago rating of 1.76 (2-18-16), so Smackdown not only has lost what it gained from moving to Tuesdays and going live and having exclusive use of roughly 40 percent of the roster, but it also is below the levels from two years ago.
Smackdown was drawing 1.8-2.1 million viewers in May-July 2016 just before going live and did over 2.6 million Tuesday night so it would be incorrect to say it lost momentum since 2 years..which btw was only a few weeks from moving from Syfy to USA