Originally published at WWE Raw secures top spot on cable despite viewership drop
While WWE Raw had a growth pattern throughout the show, its overall viewership hit its lowest mark of 2021 while managing to top Monday’s cable chart.
The show averaged 1,701,000 viewers falling 6.3 percent from last week and its lowest audience since December 21st, 2020. However, the 18-49 demographic increased 7.5 percent with a 0.57 and was Raw’s highest demo rating since March 1st. Another positive was that the key demo grew more than 9 percent throughout the three-hour program.
The show began with 1,733,000 viewers and a 0.53 in the 18-49 demo. The viewership average in the opening hour was bad by Raw’s standards with its lowest open since December 14, 2020. In the second hour, viewers fell to 1,697,000 but the demo increased to 0.56. The final hour saw a small drop in viewership to 1,673,000 and the demo grew to 0.58. From start-to-finish, viewers dropped 3.5 percent and the demo rose 9.4 percent. The viewership drop was minimal compared to most weeks, but it was also a much smaller audience than most weeks.
Where Raw was impacted was its 50+ audience dropping 13.5 percent this week to a 0.77. With an older audience that percentage drop offset the other gains across most of the key demos for Monday.
The largest areas of growth this week were among adults 18-34 that increased by 40 percent and increased by 22.5 percent from the first to third hours. Both males and females 12-34 grew 24 percent this week. Besides the 50+ audience, the only other demo that fell this week was females 18-49 by 5 percent.
It’s a mixed signal as Raw’s most loyal audience was down by a significant portion and affects the overall viewership, so it’s a smaller pool watching Raw. It is also a function of daylight savings time that typically helps the second hour with audiences tuning in later, but they are also sticking around until the end of the show, which is a positive. The pattern with the 50+ audience not only shows a loss from the previous week, but those watching are tuning out as the show progresses.
In Canada, Raw had a lot of competition with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors running against the show. Raw averaged 222,300 and 106,700 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos and how the show performed throughout the three hours:
ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.57 (+7.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: +9.4 percent
FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.38 (-5 percent)
Hour 1-3: +5.5 percent
MALES 18-49
This week: 0.73 (+11 percent)
Hour 1-3: +13 percent
ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.35 (+40 percent)
Hour 1-3: +22.5 percent
FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.26 (+24 percent)
Hour 1-3: +22 percent
MALES 12-34
This week: 0.36 (+24 percent)
Hour 1-3: +12 percent
ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.67 (+3 percent)
Hour 1-3: +1.5 percent
ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.77 (-13.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: –13 percent