Raw last night did its best numbers since the start of the NFL season, averaging 1.51 million viewers and drawing a 0.48 rating in the 18-49 demo.
Football numbers are not available at press time but ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 all had the same Seattle Seahawks vs. New York Giants game, rather than two different games as has been the case the past two weeks or a monster game like in week one.
Raw started out strong but had a bigger third hour drop than has been the case in recent months with the Gunther vs. Tommaso Ciampa main event. The main event did 1.35 million viewers.
The first hour was far above what has been the case since football started, but the third hour was in the same realm.
Raw was up three percent in viewers, up 12 percent in 18-49, and up 33 percent in 18-34 from last week, so the growth skewed younger.
The strongest gains were with men 18-34.
The Raw audience being younger is more obvious when comparing the show with one year ago. While viewers were down six percent from last year, the 18-49 rating was up 17 percent and the 18-34 rating was up 49 percent even with the decline of homes that get USA Network.
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 1.63 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 1.57 million viewers
- 10 p.m. 1.39 million viewers
