WWE Raw rebounds with the second hour topping the first

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/02/11/wwe-raw-rebounds/

Photo courtesy: WWE

Following last week’s dip to the program’s second-lowest viewership mark of 2020, WWE Raw saw a rebound this week.

Raw was up 8% in total viewership with an average of 2,337,000 viewers on the USA Network. The show was likely assisted by avoiding the New Hampshire primary which takes place tonight while the Iowa primary was on Monday night last week.

The show opened with 2,396,000 viewers in the first hour that featured the Royal Rumble rematch between Becky Lynch and Asuka that went over eighteen minutes and featured Shayna Baszler’s attack on Lynch.

In a rare instance, the second hour saw a small increase to 2,411,000 viewers and breaking the long-standing pattern of the first hour as the most-watched hour. The third-hour drop remained with a decrease of 9% to 2,204,000 viewers.

The show built to an eight-man tag in the main event position with Seth Rollins, Murphy & AOP defeating Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe & The Viking Raiders.

The key demographics saw growth across the board. In the 18-49 demo, Raw did a 0.80 up 19% from last week’s figure placing Raw as the top cable program on Monday night.

Adults 25-54 were also up big with an increase of 24% from last week followed by males and females 18-49 that jumped 18% each. There were no declines among the key demos, although adults over 50 didn’t budge with a 1.02 just as they did last week.

The major viewership competition came against the cable news programs ahead of tonight’s primary in New Hampshire. ESPN had a college basketball game between Florida State and Duke that did 1,324,000 viewers against the first half of Raw.

Below is a full breakdown of the demos, how they compared to last week and adjustments from the first hour to the third on Monday night:

ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.80 (+19%)
Last week: 0.67
Hour 1-3: -5%

FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.52 (+18%)
Last week: 0.44
Hour 1-3: -4%

MALES 18-49
This week: 1.07 (+18%)
Last week: 0.90
Hour 1-3: -5.5%

ADULTS 18-34

This week: 0.53 (+10%)
Last week: 0.48
Hour 1-3: -4%

FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.32 (+14%)
Last week: 0.28
Hour 1-3: +10% – this demo started at a 0.30 in the first hour and a did 0.33 in the second and third hours

MALES 12-34

This week: 0.60 (+7%)
Last week: 0.56
Hour 1-3: -8%

ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.94 (+24%)
Last week: 0.76
Hour 1-3: -6%

ADULTS 50+
This week: 1.02 (Even)
Last week: 1.02
Hour 1-3: -6%