Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/08/11/wwe-raws-viewership-stays-even-18-49-demo-drops-8/
Photo courtesy: WWE
The experiment of Raw Underground continued this week as a hook for the third hour after success with its younger audience in week one.
This week’s episode of Raw averaged 1,722,000 viewers that were basically flat with last week’s number of 1,715,000.
Raw took a hit with its 18-49 demographic rating which fell by 8% from a 0.51 to a 0.47 this week and would be their second-lowest demo rating of the year behind the May 4th and July 20th shows that did a 0.46 rating.
Raw finished fourth, sixth, and seventh among cable programs Monday including a Denver Nuggets vs. L.A. Lakers game that finished second and 90 Day Fiance in first.
The first hour averaged 1,811,000 viewers meaning there was interest in the episode as this was their best opening hour since June 29th and up 6% from last week’s open. In hour two, Raw fell by 3% to 1,754,000, unlike last week where the second hour was the peak hour. In the important third hour, Raw’s number fell by 9% to 1,601,000 viewers.
With total viewers, the third hour was almost even with last week’s 1,610,000 but lacked the sizable growth in the 12-34 and 18-34 demographics.
As we have discussed, the new focus among wrestling programs is the fight for the younger audience between Raw and AEW. Last week’s episode of Dynamite topped this week’s Raw with adults 18-34 with a 0.29 to Raw’s 0.22. AEW also topped them in females 12-34 with a 0.21 to a 0.19. Raw had the edge with males 12-34 with a 0.32 rating to AEW’s 0.28.
Compared to last week, Raw saw a big drop among females 18-49 dropping by 25% with a 0.40 to 0.30 decline. Adults 18-34 and females 12-34 each dropped by 21% this week.
Regarding the third hour, males 12-34 were the only demographic to improve from the first hour to the third increasing by 6.5% while adults 18-34 were even. The 18-49 rating declined by 8% in the third hour.
Once again, the over 50 audience was steady for hours one and two before dropping by 12% in the third hour.
One can’t pin Raw Underground as the lone factor for third-hour changes as the final hour featured the heavily promoted matches between Randy Orton and Kevin Owens and Bayley vs. Asuka to set-up the Raw women’s title match at SummerSlam. It would appear the introduction of Raw Underground has been enough of a band-aid solution to stave off record-low figures that Raw had been churning out prior to last week’s introduction of the concept.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos, comparison of the first to third hours, and last week’s AEW Dynamite figures:
ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.47 (-8%)
Hour 1-3: -8%
AEW: 0.36
FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.30 (-25%)
Hour 1-3: -18%
AEW: 0.26
MALES 18-49
This week: 0.65 (+5%)
Hour 1-3: -1.5%
AEW: 0.45
ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.22 (-21%)
Hour 1-3: Even
AEW: 0.29
FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.19 (-21%)
Hour 1-3: -10%
AEW: 0.21
MALES 12-34
This week: 0.32 (-6%)
Hour 1-3: +6.5%
AEW: 0.28
ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.61 (-3%)
Hour 1-3: -11%
AEW: 0.39
ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.85 (-5%)
Hour 1-3: -12%
AEW: 0.33