Monday's WWE Raw once again had a strong second hour and while the viewership was down in the third hour slightly overall, the number has to be considered good when you consider that the Golden State Warriors vs. LA Lakers NBA playoff game did 7.52 million viewers against the third hour.
The show overall did 1.79 million viewers and an 0.51 in the 18-49 demo.
The three hours were:
- 8 PM: 1.78 million viewers
- 9 PM: 1.91 million viewers
- 10 PM: 1.67 million viewers
Raw was fourth for the night on cable, beating everything except the NBA playoffs on TNT. The New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat game against the first two hours did 4.56 million viewers and a 1.53 in 18-49 while the Warriors vs. Lakers game did a 2.71 in 18-49.
The Inside The NBA show after the end of the Warriors game did 2.33 million viewers and a 0.93 in 18-49. The Edmonton Oilers vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights NHL playoff game did 1.18 million viewers and a 0.39 in 18-49, finishing fifth behind Raw.
Raw was fourth across the board and second in the time slot in every key demo behind the three NBA-related shows. Raw also beat everything on network TV except Jeopardy! Masters in hour one on ABC that did 5.78 million viewers and a 0.63 in 18-49.
It was ninth for the night in total viewers, trailing the three NBA-related shows and five news shows.
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The major story is that the World Heavyweight tournament worked very well at keeping the audience against the highly-rated game. The boost from Backlash would show up earlier rather than later.
Raw was helped by coming off the PPV and the three World title tournament matches. But, with the tougher competition, it was only a tiny rise in total viewers, a relatively small drop in 18-49, and a bigger drop in 18-34.
It was up less than one percent from last week in viewers, but that would be considered a win. In 18-49, it was down four percent and in 18-34, it was down 10 percent.
Year over year, it was up eight percent in viewers, up 17 percent in 18-49, and up 20 percent in 18-34. Keeping in mind that USA Network is down in potential homes, those increases are even more impressive than those figures indicate.
The pattern across the board was a lower than usual first hour, a very strong second hour and, considering the opposition, a strong third hour. In the key demos, hour three (featuring Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor in the tournament) did roughly the same in key demos as hour one, which is a big win.
First-to-third hour movement saw women 18-49 down three percent, men 18-49 up three percent (usually down closer to ten percent), women 12-34 up ten percent, and men 12-34 down five percent while over 50 was down nine percent.
