WWE SmackDown Viewership and Demo Rating Dip to New Lows
WWE SmackDown experienced a slight decline in viewership and it’s key demographic rating for the October 10, 2025, episode, continuing a downward trend observed since Nielsen‘s implementation of a new ratings measurement system. The program garnered a 0.22 rating in the 18-49 demographic and an average of 1.025 million viewers, according to Programming Insider.
These figures represent a 4.4% decrease in the demo rating and a 0.5% reduction in overall viewership compared to the previous week’s results of 0.23 and 1.030 million, respectively. While the drop is incremental, it marks smackdown’s lowest demo rating since the New Year’s Eve show in 2021, which achieved a 0.08. Viewership also hit a low, falling below the 789,000 viewers recorded on the November 24, 2023, episode broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
Industry analysts attribute the sustained ratings challenges to Nielsen’s recent shift to a “Big Data + Panel” system, which has demonstrably impacted viewership numbers across most wrestling programming. Direct comparisons to pre-September 2024 data are therefore considered unreliable.
On the night of October 10th, SmackDown ranked fifth among all cable and broadcast programs in the 18-49 demo.It trailed the ALCS Game Five on FOX (1.74 rating/8.049 million viewers), a WNBA Playoff game on ESPN (0.33/1.437 million), the WNBA Studio post-game show (0.27/1.108 million), and a college football game on ESPN2 (0.23/1.104 million).
Year-to-date in 2025, smackdown is averaging a 0.414 demo rating and 1.448 million viewers. This is a significant decrease from 2024’s averages of 0.618 and 2.195 million over the same period,when the show aired on both FOX and USA Network.
