Raw ratings inevitably drop following Goldberg's return

Ratings for last night’s episode of Raw were down 10% from last week’s total that was bolstered by the return of Goldberg. But last night’s show was still the second highest number since the start of the NFL season.

The show opened relatively strong with 2.983 million viewers but dropped sharply in hours two (2.806 million) and three (2.669 million). Raw finished with an average viewership of 2.807 million people.

The drop-off of just over 300,000 viewers from hour one to hour three was one of the bigger such drops in recent weeks. Percentage-wise, it was the fifth largest drop since April 18th, which was two weeks after WrestleMania.

The show finished third for the night in total viewers on cable, trailing Monday Night Football (11.168 million) and The O’Reilly Factor (3.268 million). In the 18-49 demo, the three hours were fourth, fifth, and sixth for the night behind the NFL, SportsCenter, and Love and Hip Hop Hollywood

Here’s the last 10 weeks of RAW ratings as compared to previous years: