EXCLUSIVE: WWE is locking in its heavyweight standing forward of WrestleMania.
With Friday Night time SmackDown main the cost, the corporate has seen some strong viewers will increase through the first quarter of 2024.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s certainly added gas to the hearth, as SmackDown is averaging 892,000 whole viewers within the 18-49 demo on Fox through the first quarter of the 12 months, up 15% versus final 12 months.
Additional cementing SmackDown as high canine amongst 18-49 audiences, the February 16 episode drew 985,000 viewers — the most-watched primetime broadcast for that demo your complete week.
As Deadline beforehand reported although, Johnson made his return to the ring in February, and WWE has seen an uptick in SmackDown viewership all 12 months. In actual fact, SmackDown has ranked No. 1 amongst 18-49 audiences throughout all whole day Friday broadcasts for 11 of the primary 12 weeks of the quarter.
In the meantime, Monday Night time Uncooked is up 6% this quarter-to-date in comparison with final 12 months on USA Community with a median demo viewers of 733,000. Uncooked has ranked No. 1 among the many 18-49 viewers on Monday cable for 9 of the primary 13 weeks.
In January, Pat McAfee returned to the commentator desk, serving to rake in 811,000 demo viewers for that episode, a 13% viewers enhance over the prior week.
Additionally on USA, NXT is up 33% within the 18-49 demo viewers versus the identical quarter final 12 months.
The fortieth annual WrestleMania shall be held in Philadelphia this weekend, April 6 and seven.