Good times continue for Smackdown Live as 2019 is underway. For the second week in a row, the so-called B-show of the WWE was able to topple the viewership of the flagship program i.e. Monday Night Raw. This is indeed huge news for the blue brand who is able to cross the rating numerals of the longest running weekly program in TV history.
John Cena spoke on Becky Lynch blasting her
There was a number of special attractions on the New Year’s Episode of Smackdown Live. John Cena returned to WWE programming putting an end to all the speculations. The segment featuring him and Becky Lynch is perhaps one of the all-time greats to take place on the show. It was one big reason to pull the viewership up for the night.
Plus, AJ Styles won a Fatal 5 Way main event to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship. But mostly John Cena’s advertised return was able to draw 2.091 million viewers. It is up by 9.8% from last week’s 1.904 million viewers. It was also another taped edition for the Christmas Night episode. (Courtesy wrestlingINC.com)
As mentioned earlier, this is for the second week in a row that Smackdown topped WWE Raw ratings. This is quite significant hinting a big change in TV programming. The audience is definitely fond of Smackdown programming than that of the Monday Night show.
The New Year’s Eve edition of RAW drew 1.968 million viewers. It was slightly up from last week’s 1.775 million viewers for the Christmas Eve episode. SmackDown garnered 1.904 million viewers, in comparison which was more by 0.129 million. This is only the fourth time that SmackDown defeated WWE RAW since live tapings began for the blue brand in July 2016.
Additional achievements for New Year’s episode of Smackdown Live is as follows via the same source,
“SmackDown was #10 for the night in viewership on cable, behind 7 ESPN programs related to the College Football Bowl games, SportsCenter at midnight and Curse of Oak Island. SmackDown was #10 in the 18-49 demographic this week, behind the same programs.”
This is quite a big news for Smackdown Live since it’s moving to Fox Sports in October 2019. The officials want this show to become a tough competitor to WWE Raw. The increment of viewership will give an additional booster while promoting the show, big-time. Cross promotion with UFC might increase TV ratings even more for the blue brand.