Smackdown Ratings: Another show drawing fewer than 2 million viewers, Smackdown drops out of top five Tuesday cable shows in viewership

Last night’s episode of WWE Smackdown on USA Network drew a 1.43 rating, an uptick from last week’s record low 1.39 rating. It was the second-lowest rating in Smackdown history with a total viewership of 1.977 million viewers. It’s the second week in a row Smackdown drew below 2 million viewers, and the second time in history.

This week’s rating is down from the year-ago rating of 1.72 and the two-years-ago rating of 1.74.

The average rating this month so far is 1.41, down from 1.56 last month and 1.56 in October and 1.62 in September. Last year, September averaged a 1.78 rating and a 1.75 rating in December. Two years ago Smackdown averaged a 1.75 rating in September and a 1.84 in December. So this is not a “season trend” and it is not associate with only Raw or only Smackdown, so it can’t be attributed to a specific wrestler being absent (Roman Reigns) or overpushed (Baron Corbin) or turned (Daniel Bryan). This is an alarming trend of viewers abandoning both weekly shows that they’ve watched for years.

Smackdown finished no. 3 among all above shows in the coveted 18-49 demographic with a 0.7 rating, behind “Curse of Oak Island” on History Channel (also drawing a 0.7, but 1.2 million more viewers in total) and the top show, “Below Deck” on Bravo (drawing a 0.8 and around 143,000 more total viewers). Smackdown didn’t finish among the top five shows on cable in total viewers, though.

USA Network’s “Christly Knows Best” following Smackdown drew a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demo and 1.093 million total viewers.

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