Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/10/17/smackdown-1000-edges-past-raw-in-this-weeks-viewership-figures/
The 1,000th episode of SmackDown Live attracted a larger audience than Raw this week with both shows facing heavy sports competition.
Tuesday’s loaded edition of SmackDown featuring Evolution, Edge, and The Undertaker being advertised, averaged 2,545,000 viewers on the USA Network. It was their highest viewership figure since April 24th, which was one week after the Super Shakeup.
The first hour of SmackDown went against the end of the Houston Astros vs. Boston Red Sox playoff game that did 4,871,000 viewers on TBS. The second hour of SmackDown went against the start of the NLCS game between the Brewers and Dodgers. Tuesday night also featured the Philadelphia 76ers take on the Boston Celtics that averaged 2,945,000 viewers on TNT. The networks saw NCIS average 11,865,000 viewers on CBS and The Conners doing 10,563,000 viewers on ABC.
It was the second time since the brand split in 2016 that SmackDown had more viewers than Raw. Monday’s show averaged 2,390,000 viewers, which was their strongest showing since September 17th. The show did 2,490,000 viewers in the first hour, had a minimal drop to 2,482,000 in the second hour and dropped 11% in the third hour to 2,216,000.
The Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers did 11,881,000 viewers, plus there was an NLCS game between the Brewers and Dodgers that did 4,207,000 on FS 1.