WWE SmackDown viewership drops, 18-49 demo rating up

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.35 million viewers on USA Network, down 7.5 percent from the previous week. It’s the lowest audience total for the show since December 20 of last year.

In the 18-49 demo, SmackDown drew a 0.40 rating. That’s up 2.6 percent from last week but ties the second-lowest number the show has done in that category so far in 2025.

The show took place in London earlier in the day and was broadcast live on Netflix overseas before airing on tape delay in the United States. It went head-to-head with NCAA basketball tournament games on CBS, TNT, and TBS that dominated the ratings charts. SmackDown was the highest rated show on all of television not related to the tournament.

As compared to the same week in 2024, when the show still aired on Fox and was facing similar competition, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 38.7 percent while its 18-49 rating was down 33.3 percent.

With WWE’s European tour now over, SmackDown will take place from Chicago this Friday as the road to WrestleMania continues.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership totals and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was down 12.8 percent in overall viewers and 14.9 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.