Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/11/09/friday-night-smackdown-pulls-in-strong-number-against-election-coverage/
Friday Night SmackDown finished with one of its best figures of the pandemic era topping 2.3 million viewers on Fox.
The November 6th episode featured the rematch between Sasha Banks and Bayley for the SmackDown women’s title and averaged 2,315,000 viewers and a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, according to Showbuzz Daily.
While coverage of the U.S. Election dominated Friday’s cable programming, SmackDown topped all network programs in both the 18-49 and 18-34 demographics. In the 25-54 demo, they tied NBC’s American Ninja Warrior episode with a 0.8 in that category.
The SmackDown women’s title rematch was promoted all week with Banks making her first title defense after defeating Bayley at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on October 25th.
It was Friday Night SmackDown’s highest overall viewership since September 11th and second-highest mark since April 10th.
On cable, the top thirty programs featured coverage of the election, and CNN occupying the top sixteen slots.