WWE SmackDown Viewership Dips For 7/23 Broadcast
Olympic opening ceremonies took their toll
Though still easily above the recent spring and early-summer norms, SmackDown overnight viewership fell for the July 23 broadcast, against heavy Olympic competition.
Per Spoiler TV, SmackDown averaged 2,008,000 viewers in the overnights on Friday, down 177,000 (eight percent) from last week's overnight average of 2,185,000 viewers.
Nonetheless, it was still the second-largest SmackDown viewership since May 7. Overall, this viewership is on par with what SmackDown was drawing for the Performance Center shows of May and June 2020.
In 18-49, SmackDown pulled a .50 demo rating, the modern-era norm for the show.
Understandably, the prime time encore of the Summer Olympics opening ceremonies on NBC took a toll on all competition. Against SmackDown, the ceremonies drew 10,900,000 viewers at 8 pm, and 10,615,000 viewers at 9 pm. Both of those hours did a sizable 2.3 demo rating.
SmackDown Overnight Viewership, Last 10 Weeks:
* May 21: 1,830,000
* May 28: 1,755,000
* June 4: 1,792,000
* June 11: 1,853,000
* June 18: 1,926,000
* June 25: 1,859,000
* July 2: 1,741,000
* July 9: 1,881,000
* July 16: 2,185,000
* July 23: 2,008,000
10 WEEK AVERAGE: 1,883,000 (was previously 1,862,200)
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.