The new Nielsen Big Data + Panel methodology continues to cause chaos for professional wrestling ratings, with WWE SmackDown hitting an all-time low viewership this past Friday (tap here for complete results) on the USA Network.
According to the latest data, SmackDown averaged 1.03 million total viewers and 313,000 viewers (0.23 rating) in the coveted 18–49 demographic. Both figures are the lowest in the show’s history, excluding rare pre-empted episodes that aired on FS1 during WWE’s previous deal with FOX.
Compared to the prior week, SmackDown saw a 17% drop in total viewers and a 34% drop in the key 18–49 demo. Male viewership within that demographic fell from 289,000 to 182,000, while female viewership dipped from 174,000 to 120,000.
Despite the slide, SmackDown still managed to rank 3rd among cable originals for the night, trailing only Game 1 of the WNBA Finals (1.86 million viewers, 0.44 demo) and the brief College Football Scoreboard that followed on ESPN.
The blue brand also outperformed ESPN2’s college football coverage and Fox News’ prime-time lineup, finishing 4th overall on television in the 18–49 demographic.
The steep declines are being attributed to Nielsen’s controversial new Big Data + Panel tracking model, which merges traditional sample-based viewership (around 42,000 households) with a vastly larger dataset drawn from 45 million homes and 75 million devices.
While intended to provide more accurate audience measurement, the new system has consistently reported lower numbers for wrestling programming across WWE and AEW, even as most other sports have seen modest increases.
Under Nielsen’s previous “panel-only” method, SmackDown averaged 1.395 million total viewers and 531,000 in the 18–49 demo over the final eight weeks before the switch. Since the new model’s rollout, the show has averaged 1.134 million viewers and 395,000 in the demo – declines of 18.7% and 25.6%, respectively.
This week’s episode of SmackDown will be tape-delayed in the United States, airing at 8 a.m. ET on Netflix internationally from Perth, Western Australia.
While wrestling insiders have largely accepted that the new ratings model doesn’t reflect actual audience engagement, the drastic drops continue to raise questions about how networks and advertisers will value wrestling programming moving forward.
Also Read: TV Networks React To Drop In WWE & AEW Ratings Under New System
