WWE Raw ratings down nine percent from season premiere

Raw last night dropped nine percent from last week, doing 2.33 million viewers on average.

The drop should have been expected since last week’s number was heavily boosted by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, and this week was still above the 2.21 million number of two weeks ago, and going against far tougher competition.

The show probably got a boost from Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. Next week’s episode should be high due to the draft. The negative reaction to the main event finish of Hell in a Cell was never going to have a statistical influence on ratings.

The competition on television was tough as Raw was 12th for the day, far lower than usual, given MLB playoffs and NFL football. The San Francisco 49ers vs. Cleveland Browns game did 11.13 million viewers on ESPN. The Dodgers-Nationals game on TBS did 3.61 million viewers. The Yankees-Twins game on FS1 did 2.66 million viewers.

It was the usual pattern of viewers leaving, but the 8.7 percent first-to-third hour drop was less than usual. In addition, with the exception of a 14.3 percent drop from hour one to hour three in women
18-49, no demo had double digit decreases in viewership and teenage boys increased three percent in the third hour compared to the first.

The show was down only slightly from the 2.36 million mark the same week last year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.44 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.33 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.23 million viewers