Friday’s live special Throwback edition of WWE SmackDown, a retro theme with a big 10-man main event, drew an average of 2.282 million viewers on FOX, according to Showbuzz Daily.
This final number is up from the overnight viewership that was released on Saturday morning, which was an average of 2.157 million viewers. This number is also up from last week’s final SmackDown viewership of 2.018 million viewers for the episode with the big Career vs. Title main event.
Friday’s SmackDown drew a 0.65 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, a 0.76 rating in the 25-54 demo, and a 0.43 rating in the 18-34 demographic. Last week’s SmackDown drew a 0.49 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, a 0.64 rating in the 25-54 demo, and a 0.30 rating in the 18-34 demographic.
SmackDown ranked #1 in ratings for the key 18-49 demographic on network TV. SmackDown also ranked #1 in the 18-34 demo this week, for the third week in a row. The show ranked #3 in the 25-54 demo, behind Shark Tank’s 0.85 rating and Blue Bloods’ 0.78 rating. SmackDown came in at #8 for the night in viewership on network TV. Blue Bloods on CBS topped the night on network TV in viewership this week with 5.869 million viewers.
This week’s SmackDown viewership was up 13.1% from last week, while the key demo rating was up 32.7% from last week. This was the best SmackDown audience since the Royal Rumble go-home show on January 29. It was tied with the post-Royal Rumble episode as the second-best key demo rating of the year, behind the January 15 show.
This week’s SmackDown viewership was up 12.7% from the same week in 2020, while the 18-49 key demo rating was up 30% from the same week in 2020, which aired from the WWE Performance Center with no fans.
