Last week’s final Smackdown rating dropped slightly compared to the previous week and the number of spectators even hit the low of the year. Friday night’s episode got a rating of 0.43 in the 18-49 demographic and 1.878 million viewers according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics. Those numbers are down 4.4% and 7.5% from the 0.45 demo rating and 2.031 million viewers the previous week.
The demo rating was the lowest since the April 29 episode (0.38). What’s worse is that the audience was the worst of 2022 for the show. The last time a first-run episode on FOX was lower was the July 2, 2021 episode, which garnered 1.861 million viewers. Smackdown still led the night’s chart on TV networks, but like AEW Rampage he was obviously beaten (as usual lately) by the NBA playoffs. The conference finals on ESPN achieved a rating of 2.41 in the 18-49 demographic and 7.188 million viewers. A merciless comparison for any show.
