Raw last night did what I’d consider a great number considering competition from game seven of the Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers American League Championship Series and a San Francisco 49ers vs. Minnesota Vikings NFL game.
Raw averaged 1.48 million viewers with an even more impressive 0.46 rating in 18-49, with the ratings bolstered by a major increase in 18-34.
Raw was seventh for the night on cable, trailing four NFL-related shows and two baseball playoff-related shows.
The opposition saw the 49ers vs. Vikings game do a combined 18.61 million viewers and 4.91 rating in 18-49, broken down as 7.34 million/2.14 on ESPN, 10.20 million/1.98 on ABC, and 1,068,000/0.39 on ESPN2.
The Astros/Rangers game did 9.53 million/2.29 in 18-49 on Fox and FS1, broken down as 6.77 million viewers and a 1.64 in 18-49 on Fox and 2.76 million/0.65 on FS1.
Both games were head-to-head with Raw. In addition, the end of the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Philadelphia Phillies game on TBS went against the first quarter of Raw and did 4.55 million viewers and a 1.07 rating in 18-49.
Next week, going against the World Series and the NFL, is the toughest week on paper, but Raw as of late has been doing above what it did the first few weeks against the NFL.
Raw was down only 7,000 viewers from last week, and it was even up two percent in 18-49 entirely due to 18-34 gains, and up 20 percent from last week in 18-34.
From one year ago, the audience was down due to Raw’s drop with people over 50 that dates back to August. But it’s well ahead in the key demos. Viewership was down 10 percent from last year, but 18-49 was up four percent and 18-34 was up 21 percent. Factoring in homes lost by USA Network over the past year, the real percentages would be down five percent with viewers but up 14 percent in 18-49 and up 33 percent in 18-34.
The show did a significant third-hour drop with the key match being Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest.
The three hours were:
8 p.m. 1.57 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.51 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.35 million viewers