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WWE Celebrates TV Ratings Success Ahead Of WrestleMania 40

By James Holder • Published 1st April 2024
Triple H WWE Champion

WWE has enjoyed a strong start to 2024.

In a new press release, WWE has touted its increased viewership gains in the 18-49-year-old demographic across Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.

Back in January, it was announced that Monday Night Raw will be moving to Netflix from January 2025. The deal is said to be worth a staggering $5 billion and came after it was revealed that SmackDown will move to the USA Network in late 2024, and NXT will have a new home on The CW.

STAMFORD, Conn., April 1, 2024 – WWE’s flagship weekly programming, SmackDown, Raw and NXT, continues to deliver viewership gains among the key P18-49 advertising demo ahead of WWE’s biggest event of the year, WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7.

Friday Night SmackDown on FOX

  • In Q1 2024, SmackDown is averaging 892K total viewers among P18-49, up 15 percent versus the year prior.
  • SmackDown has ranked No. 1 among P18-49 audiences across all total day Friday broadcasts for 11 of the first 12 weeks of the quarter.
  • Feb. 16 episode of SmackDown scored 985K viewers among P18-49, making it the most-viewed broadcast program in primetime for the entire week of Feb. 12.

Monday Night Raw on USA Network

  • In Q1 2024, Raw averaged 733K total viewers among P18-49, up six percent versus the year prior.
  • Raw ranked No. 1 among P18-49 audiences on Monday cable for nine of the 13 weeks of the quarter.
  • The unexpected return of Pat McAfee to the commentator table during the Jan. 29 episode delivered 811K total viewers among P18-49 – up 13 percent versus the week prior – and easily ranked No. 1 on cable.

NXT on USA Network

  • In Q1 2024, NXT was up 31 percent among P18-49 versus the year prior.

“These ratings are a testament to our creative team, production crew and all of the WWE Superstars that work together week in and week out to produce these impressive results,” said WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

All three shows are headed to new platforms in the U.S. over the next year. In October 2024, SmackDown will move to USA Network and NXT will make its broadcast debut on CW. In January 2025, Raw will make its groundbreaking debut on Netflix.

WrestleMania XL is available to stream in the U.S. exclusively on Peacock.

WWE Could Make Late Change To WrestleMania Match

According to a new report, WWE could make a last-minute change to a huge WrestleMania title match. Despite the line-up for the Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder Match being complete, it’s been reported that Austin Theory and Grayson Waller could be dropped from the contest.

Their fate will be decided at an upcoming meeting.