WWE RAW's key demo recovers, finishes with 1.69 million viewers

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/12/22/wwe-raws-key-demo-recovers-finishes-with-1-69-million-viewers/

Coming out of the TLC event and the program’s least-watched episode in history, WWE RAW saw a recovery primarily among its key demographic.

In the history of RAW’s viewership that we have data for, no episode had a lower average than last week’s edition with 1,527,000 viewers and a staggering 0.41 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

This week, the show improved 10.7 percent in overall viewership with 1,691,000 viewers, which is still its second-lowest figure since November 9th. In the 18-49 demo, they posted a 0.53 that was a big jump of 29.3 percent from last week’s low point. The recovery of the demo figure is most important because of how scary last week’s numbers hit.

The show opened with 1,841,000 viewers in the first hour with a 0.53 in the 18-49 demographic. In the hour, the show dropped 7.6 percent in viewers but increased by 4 percent in the demo. In hour three, the 18-49 figure dropped by 7.3 percent and viewership dropped 10 percent. From hour one to hour three, viewership decreased by 17 percent but the key demo only fell by 4 percent.

While some pegged last week’s Monday Night Football game as the culprit for Raw’s performance, this week the NFL was up 2.4 percent from last week’s game with this week’s game averaging 12,721,000 viewers on ESPN.

The major rebound from the week prior was seen with men 18-49 that improved 41 percent this week with that demo growing 5 percent in the third hour from hour one. Adults 18-34 increased 36 percent this week, and adults 25-54 were up 33 percent.

Throughout the show, the big loss was felt among the 50+ demographic. The first hour did a 0.90 but fell by 25.5 percent in the third hour, which is a big drop off for that demographic.

In Canada, RAW averaged 214,900 viewers on Sportsnet 360 with 112,500 viewers in the 25-54 demographic. This was comparable to last week’s figure of 220,200 viewers and 112,900 in the demo. WWE Main Event airing at 7 pm Eastern on Sportsnet 360 averaged 58,100 viewers and 19,300 in the 25-54 demo.

Here are the comparisons to last week’s episode of RAW and how the show performed on Monday:

Source: Showbuzz Daily

ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.53 (+29.3 percent)
Hour 1-3: -4 percent

FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.41 (+14 percent)
Hour 1-3: -16 percent

MALES 18-49
This week: 0.65 (+41 percent)
Hour 1-3: +5 percent

ADULTS 18-34:
This week: 0.30 (+36 percent)
Hour 1-3: Even

FEMALES 12-34

This week: 0.21 (Even)
Hour 1-3: -22 percent

MALES 12-34

This week: 0.32 (+18.5 percent)
Hour 1-3: +10 percent

ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.64 (+33 percent)
Hour 1-3: -9 percent

ADULTS 50+

This week: 0.78 (+1 percent)
Hour 1-3: -25.5 percent

There’s a joke to be made about a bunch of 50+ year olds falling asleep