Taped edition of WWE Raw falls to a new 2019 low

General
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Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/24/taped-edition-of-wwe-raw-falls-to-a-new-2019-low/

As expected, Monday’s taped edition of Raw with hit hard and ended up with the show’s lowest viewership average of 2019.

The three-hour taped show averaged 1,835,000 viewers, a drop of 10.5% from last week and their lowest figure since the Christmas Eve show from 2018. This show was also lower than the episode of Raw that ran on New Year’s Eve last year putting this week’s show as one of the least-watched in Raw’s history.

The first hour of the show averaged 1,955,000 viewers, it fell 5% to 1,864,000, and dropped another 10% and finished with 1,686,000 in the last hour. The third hour of Raw was lower than any of the hours from the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve episodes of 2018.

They went against a strong Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings that did 13,566,000 viewers.

A better episode to compare this week’s Raw to is the November 11th taped show from England. That show also ran on a tape delay (it was taped on November 8th) and went against a larger NFL game that did 15,978,000 viewers.

Compared to November 11th, the overall viewership this week was down 11% and the 18-49 demo was down 19%.

The 18-49 demo was 0.52, which was down 13% from last week. Their largest drop was among males 12-34 which fell 41% from last week, followed by 18-34s that declined 26%. The demographic that held up best was adults over 50, which were down 8%.

When looking at the viewership in the first hour to the third, every demo fell like usual except for males 12-34. While it was an enormous drop of 41% from last week in the category, that demo grew 7% from the first hour of Raw to the final hour.

Next week’s episode is a live version from Hartford and is being promoted around the wedding segment involving Bobby Lashley and Lana.

Here is the breakdown of the key demographics with comparisons to last week and how the figures fluctuated from Hour one to Hour three:

PEOPLE 18-49: 0.52
Last week: -13%
Hour 1-3: -14%

FEMALES 18-49: 0.40
Last week: -11%
Hour 1-3: -22%

MALES 18-49: 0.64
Last week: -15%
Hour 1-3: -10%

PEOPLE 18-34: 0.31
Last week: -26%
Hour 1-3: -15%

FEMALES 12-34: 0.27
Last week: -18%
Hour 1-3: -23%

MALES 12-34: 0.29
Last week: -41%
Hour 1-3: +7%

PEOPLE 25-54: 0.64
Last week: -11%
Hour 1-3: -21%

PEOPLE 50+: 0.88
Last week: -8%
Hour 1-3: -12%

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Amazing how despite being against a monster game and on Christmas week it still eats NXT and AEW combined

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Why is that surprising

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Was about to ask this.

TV show on in the same slot for the last 30 years has an audience that watches every week out of habit… While two newer shows in a different slot, have less viewers. How is this a comparison?

Again, I’m still of the mind if AEW moved to Monday’s, they’d get a bump of several hundred thousand solely based off the fact people would tune in out of Monday night habits.

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I guess it’s always surprising to me because it’s a horrible show. NXT and AEW, despite your personal preference, are both miles better.

Like who is wasting life watching this crap for 3 hours during Christmas week?

I guess if Americans voted in Trump this makes as much sense lol.

It’s also just surprising to see a title saying “Record low” and then reading it only to see on its worst day it’s still better than the other shows combined

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I don’t watch Raw much, but I’m always amazed at how every match is so predictible and often mean nothing. The main event ending in a DQ is ok, but still disappointing. But in many ways, a lot of what I’m saying here was true in the late 90s.

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Quality doesn’t equal popularity. Macdonald’s is the most popular restaurant, but that does not mean they are even close to being the best.

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That’s a price factor. They are cheap. Alinea is not.

These cost the same to watch

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I agree. McDonald’s food is pedestrian slop. I feel sorry for poor people that can only afford to eat at McDonald’s when there’s a Culver’s and a 5 Guys within 1 mile of the McD’s here.

AEW got some good advertising over the last 24 hours. They ran spots during the 24 hour marathon showing of “A Christmas Story”. Everyone watches that for at least a little while over Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. Some people probably just discovered that wrestling is back on TNT.

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It’s not just price it is also familiarity. Plenty of other fast food places compete on choice, but people frequently go to chains because they know exactly to expect. That was specified in training when I worked in a Seattle’s Best Coffee shop years ago, everything had to be made following specific directions so that the quality between stores is the same. So there are likely plenty of local “fast food” places that are of similar price, and often better quality, but eating at them is a risk vs knowing what you are getting at McDonalds. That is the same thing with RAW vs the Wednesday shows, you already know the characters and stories. They may not be great but they are familiar. Throw in having to change viewing habits and people often stick with old faithful or they drop all together,

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Five guys is a lateral move

Just saying

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5 Guys is a lateral move from McDonalds? Ok.

You just want someone to talk to.

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I mean that depends they have better burgers (though not great burgers), but that is really all they have so if variety is included it is a lateral move.

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If variety is a factor, I’ll concede that McDonalds has more on the menu than 5 guys. But I’d rather have one thing that tastes really good than a choice of 20 that tastes like they came out of a can.

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Then for me 5 Guys has one thing that tastes like it came out of a box, so it would fail to meet your own rules for this comparison. Plus with kids variety matters. There are good fast food burgers out there but 5 Guys is middle of the pack at best and taste like a box of bubbas burgers I can cook at home.

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Yeah, that’s super! I like 5 Guys better than McDonald’s.

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Yes that was obvious. On the other hand I’ve not been there for years but have been to McDonalds, because if I want a good Burger. Smash Burger, or Danny’s (a local drive through) put it to Shame, and Jakes Wayback which is comparable is closer to home. But I’ll grab breakfast at a McDonalds, or Chicken Nuggets for my kids, and I like McDonalds fries.

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I used to think McDonalds was ok for breakfast, until I moved to a place that has Bojangles (think KFC, but good). There’s one across the street from McDonald’s on my way to work. The drive thru at McD’s is always long with out of state license plates at breakfast because as someone said, it’s familiar. But across the street Bojangles’ has a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit that doesn’t taste like it was put together by a crackhead’s hands, dropped on the floor and kicked and then passed through a three legged cat. Bojangles’ tastes like it was cooked by grandma within the last 5 minutes and put together with love.

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Yeah Bojangles closest store is 2.5-3 hours from me. So my options are Dunkin Donuts (always long lines), McDonalds, and Burger King for Fast food with a drive in vs going to a Deli

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I’m not arguing that McDonalds is good, I’m arguing that five guys is absolute trash and at the same level.