WWE SmackDown Ratings Rise On FS1 Compared To Last Year
The ratings for WWE Smackdown on FS1 had a significant increase on a show featuring Roman Reigns, LA Knight, John Cena, and more big names.
Last Friday night’s edition of Smackdown on October 27th was moved to the FS1 cable channel rather than its usual home on the main FOX network channel. That’s because Game 1 of the MLB World Series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks aired on the regular Fox.
It is something that WWE has dealt with every October since Smackdown moved to FOX in October 2019. This will be the last year where WWE has to deal with it because Smackdown is moving to USA Network in October 2024.
There was some good ratings news for WWE because the October 27th episode of Smackdown drew 1.145 million viewers, which is a 37% increase over the October 28th, 2022 episode from one year earlier. That episode drew 835,000 total average viewership.
In the key 18-49 year old demographic, the show averaged 462,000 viewers, which is a 0.35 rating. That’s a 51% increase over October 28th, 2022. Thanks to Inside The Ropes for the ratings information.
While WWE should be happy with the FS1 rating increase from year to year, that 1.145 million viewers audience isn’t really close to the 2.4 million viewers that Smackdown usually gets on FOX. It just shows that there are going to be less people watching on cable compared to a major network station like FOX.
It should be noted also that if there’s a Game 6 of the MLB World Series then that will be on Friday, November 3rd and likely lead to Smackdown being on FS1 again this coming week. As of this writing, it’s not known if a Game 6 will be necessary. It depends on how the Rangers/Diamondbacks series goes.
This week’s edition of WWE Smackdown has already been taped
Since WWE Crown Jewel is set to take place this Saturday, WWE taped this week’s Smackdown episode airing on November 3rd.
Without spoiling anything here, many of the big names in WWE will be on the show including Roman Reigns, John Cena, LA Knight, Bianca Belair and Kevin Owens to name a few.