The season premiere of SmackDown sees viewership go down but YouTube numbers for key segments surge past one million.
According to overnight numbers released by Showbuzz Daily, the October 16 episode of SmackDown averaged 1.986 million viewers, down from the 2.086 million viewers the October 9 episode averaged.
In the 18-49 demographic, the show averaged a 0.5 rating, which is down from last week's rating. Between ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, and NBC, SmackDown viewership was the highest for hour 2, but Shark Tank usurped them in hour one. The show also drew a 0.7 rating in the 25-54 demographic, which is also down from last week's rating in that same demo.
Hourly Breakdown:
Hour 1: 1978 million viewers, 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic
Hour 2: 1995 million viewers, 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic
Top 5 Most Viewed WWE SmackDown (10/16) Videos On YouTube:
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman ? Universal Championship Match (1.1 million views)
Seth Rollins? past catches up with him on SmackDown (1 million views)
Bayley backs away from contract signing with Sasha Banks (507,000 views)
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon?s introduction leads to blue brand brawl (479,000 views)
Jeff Hardy vs. Lars Sullivan (271,000 views)
If you missed any of the action from SmackDown, check out Fightful?s full report on the show and listen to the post-show podcast for a complete review of all the action.
For a full breakdown on viewership numbers from various wrestling programs, check out Fightful's resources page.