Friday’s live Bray Wyatt and Terry Funk Tribute edition of WWE SmackDown drew an average of 2.647 million viewers on FOX, according to Nielsen, via Wrestlenomics. This final number is up 26.41% from the previous week’s final viewership of 2.094 million viewers for the Edge 25th Anniversary Celebration show.
Friday’s SmackDown drew a 0.78 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This is up 41.81% from the previous week’s 0.55 rating. This past week’s 0.78 key demo rating represents 1.022 million 18-49 viewers, which is up 41.36% from the 723,000 18-49 viewers that the 0.55 key demo rating drew the previous week.
SmackDown ranked #1 on broadcast TV for Friday night, for the fifth week in a row, according to spoilertv.com. Like the week before, Friday’s SmackDown was preempted in several markets due to NFL pre-season games but this week it was confirmed by Wrestlenomics that NFL viewership was excluded from the measurement for SmackDown. Only 1% of homes were affected by preemptions for the NFL pre-season this week, as opposed to 6% of homes last week.
Friday’s SmackDown drew the highest total audience and the highest key demo rating since December 25, 2020, which was the Christmas episode that benefited from a strong NFL lead-in. Excluding that episode, Friday’s tribute SmackDown drew the highest total audience and key demo rating since the post-Super ShowDown episode on February 28, 2020, which drew 2.687 million viewers and a 0.78 key demo rating. Friday’s viewership and key demo rating were well above the 2022 FOX average for the blue brand. Friday’s SmackDown viewership was up 26.41% from the previous week, and the key demo rating was up 41.81% from the previous week.
Viewership for Friday’s SmackDown episode was up 33.02% from the same week in 2022, while Friday’s 18-49 key demo rating was up 62.50% from the same week in 2022. The 2022 episode was the post-SmackDown 1200 show.
Friday’s Bray Wyatt and Terry Funk Tribute edition of SmackDown on FOX aired live from the KFC Yum! Center in Lexington, KY, with the following line-up advertised ahead of time – tributes for Wyatt and Funk throughout the episode, WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY defending against Zelina Vega, plus 2023 WWE Hall of Famer & United States Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Grayson Waller in a non-title match. The main event ended up being LA Knight vs. Finn Balor in a tribute match to Wyatt.
Below is our 2023 SmackDown Viewership Tracker, along with the Top 10 moments from Friday’s show:
January 6 Episode: 2.257 million viewers with a 0.53 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 13 Episode: 2.326 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 20 Episode: 2.257 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 27 Episode: 2.544 million viewers with a 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 3 Episode: 2.384 million viewers with a 0.61 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Post-Royal Rumble episode)
February 10 Episode: 2.468 million viewers with a 0.64 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 17 Episode: 2.383 million viewers with a 0.58 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 24 Episode: 2.408 million viewers with a 0.62 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Post-Elimination Chamber episode)
March 3 Episode: 2.451 million viewers with a 0.59 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 10 Episode: 2.320 million viewers with a 0.63 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 17 Episode: 2.258 million viewers with a 0.59 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 24 Episode: 2.219 million viewers with a 0.58 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 31 Episode: 2.484 million viewers with a 0.69 rating in the 18-49 demographic
April 7 Episode: 2.468 million viewers with a 0.69 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Post-WrestleMania 39 episode)
April 14 Episode: 2.265 million viewers with a 0.58 rating in the 18-49 demographic
April 21 Episode: 2.175 million viewers with a 0.54 rating in the 18-49 demographic
April 28 Episode: 2.473 million viewers with a 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demographic (WWE Draft episode)
May 5 Episode: 2.059 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the 18-49 demographic
May 12 Episode: 2.149 million viewers with a 0.56 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Post-Backlash episode)
May 19 Episode: 2.133 million viewers with a 0.53 rating in the 18-49 demographic
May 26 Episode: 2.158 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the 18-49 demographic
June 2 Episode: 2.563 million viewers with a 0.73 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Post-Night of Champions episode)
June 9 Episode: 2.278 million viewers with a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 demographic
June 16 Episode: 2.430 million viewers with a 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demographic
June 23 Episode: 2.354 million viewers with a 0.61 rating in the 18-49 demographic
June 30 Episode: 2.510 million viewers with a 0.69 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Taped episode)
July 7 Episode: 2.561 million viewers with a 0.76 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Post-Money In the Bank episode)
July 14 Episode: 2.309 million viewers with a 0.62 rating in the 18-49 demographic
July 21 Episode: 1.230 million viewers with a 0.36 rating in the 18-49 demographic (FS1 cable episode)
July 28 Episode: 2.323 million viewers with a 0.61 rating in the 18-49 demographic
August 4 Episode: 2.248 million viewers with a 0.62 rating in the 18-49 demographic
August 11 Episode: 2.097 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Post-SummerSlam episode)
August 18 Episode: 2.094 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Edge 25th Anniversary episode)
August 25 Episode: 2.647 million viewers with a 0.78 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Bray Wyatt and Terry Funk Tribute episode)
September 1 Episode:
2022 Viewership Average: 2.123 million viewers per episode over 52 episodes
2022 18-49 Key Demo Rating Average: 0.51 rating per episode over 52 episodes
2022 FOX Viewership Average: 2.173 million viewers per episode over 50 episodes
2022 FOX 18-49 Key Demo Rating Average: 0.53 rating per episode over 50 episodes
2021 Viewership Average: 2.050 million viewers per episode over 52 episodes (2,082,154 without Best Of episode)
2021 18-49 Key Demo Rating Average: 0.54 rating per episode over 52 episodes (0.55 without Best Of episode)
2021 FOX Viewership Average: 2.127 million viewers per episode over 50 episodes
2021 FOX 18-49 Key Demo Rating Average: 0.56 rating per episode over 50 episodes
2021 FS1 Viewership Average: 758,667 viewers per episode (includes Best Of episode; 949,000 without it)
2021 FS1 18-49 Key Demo Rating Average: 0.20 rating per episode (includes Best Of episode; 0.27 without it)
2020 Viewership Average: 2.180 million viewers per episode (2 FS1 airings)
2019 Viewership Average: 2.164 million viewers per episode (1 FS1 airing)
2018 Viewership Average: 2.352 million viewers per episode
2017 Viewership Average: 2.546 million viewers per episode
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