Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/03/17/wwe-raw-has-an-8-increase-for-empty-arena-show/
Under the unique circumstances that Monday’s episode of Raw provided, the show hit a four-week high on the USA Network.
The show averaged 2,335,000 viewers, which is an increase of 8% from last week’s number and their highest since February 17th.
There were so many factors going into the show from the novelty of the show taking place inside the empty venue, the re-airing of the men’s Royal Rumble, and appearances by Steve Austin and The Undertaker. But the biggest factor could be that WWE is one of the few programs that continue to produce new content amidst the COVID-19 crisis when other sports leagues and events have shut down.
The first hour did 2,412,000 viewers and increased to 2,486,000 viewers in the second hour, which was all for the Royal Rumble. Once the Rumble match ended, the third hour plummeted with a 15% drop and that included Austin’s appearance at the conclusion of the show.
The 18-49 demographic saw Raw up 10% with a 0.76 in the demo and topping all cable programming.
Every key demo was up except women 12-34 that featured a 5.5% decrease. However, that same demo was the only one that increased in the third hour with a 9% jump compared to hour one and that’s strange.
The biggest gain was among adults 25-54 with a 13% surge and men 18-34 were up 9% from last week.
Outside of females 12-34, the other key demos all saw big drops from the first to the third hour led by men 12-34 that fell 16%, 18-49 down 12.5% and adults over 50 dropping 12.5%.
Cable news dominated the night in total viewership for obvious reasons.