Should Smackdown Change Nights?

[Troy]

Smackdown did a 2.54 rating and 3,812,000 viewers. The show did hours of 2.49 and 2.59. Obviously, that blows away what they usually do Fridays on SyFy. USA is not going to take on another wrestling series (at least not at this time) but being on the more powerful USA network is not the only reason that the show did a better number. It also helped to be on Tuesday, a night when more people watch TV. SyFy should consider moving the show to Tuesday or Wednesday if they want the rating to improve.

This is the rating for this week's Smackdown which was shown on USA Network on a tuesday night. As I mentioned in the WWE ratings thread this rating is so much better than what Smackdown has been getting on SyFy they should really take this into account and consider making some big changes.

First I can't see USA Network giving WWE another two hours of prime time each week for Smackdown. In saying that SyFy should move the show to Tuesday or Wednesday like it was suggested in the article by pwinsider. A lot of people go out on Friday night and the ratings have been poor ever since Smackdown went from Thursday to Friday and have declined ever since. Either Tuesday or Wednesday would be fine as they could still have the same taping schedule and will be able to edit the program rather than going live each week. Wednesday would probably be better overall though to give fans a day break between shows.

What do you think about moving Smackdown to another night?

 

[The New F'n Show]

I think Smackdown's rankings have just as much to do with the network and not being live as they do with the night. Well I'm not a fan of the Friday Night slot and many people may not watch because of that, I don't think that number is enough to affect the ratings more than .2 or .3. I think the main reason for the spike was the show being live. Also USA is much more prevalent than Syfy.

 

[Deezy]

People have better stuff to do then stay home on a friday night, I liked it better when it was on thursdays. Smackdown is hands down the better show, and imo. Is the best wrestling program on TV. I think it would benefit greatly by being live and on thursdays, but that would mean it would kill Impact. Well that sort of underhanded tactics would appeal to me, since I think Impact does Pro-Wrestling a disservice, I don't want to see TNA fold, since it would put alot of people out of jobs.

Wednesdays, would be the logical best step towards Smackdown ratings dominance. A live show every wednesday at say 8 PM EST. I don't know what other TV shows are on at that time, since I don't watch TV outside of wrestling, MMA, hockey and political shows.

 

[Troy]

I agree that being a taped show does impact Smackdown's ratings but I think that the night it is on could make a reasonable difference. Could Smackdown go live every week or would that drain WWE's resources too much?

I can't see WWE going for a thursday night even though it would be the preferred night for Smackdown as it was so successful on that night. WWE were interested in running a Wednesday show so maybe making that switch will work for them now and the higher ratings will mean higher revenues for WWE.

Smackdown is the better show by far and it should be seen by a much larger audience. WWE will gain more fans if the ratings for RAW and Smackdown were switched. More people would be inclined to buy the PPVs after seeing the wrestling on Smackdown.

 

[Clydefrog]

see for me, im always a Raw fan and when i watched Raw live on the monday and smackdown live on the tuesday i actually thought raw was better, the concept of smackdown live never really attracted me, but if they can prove they can do a good show week in week out and not have piss poor shows then im down to watch! and The idea of it being on a tuesday would ruin me as i would have nothing to look forward to watching at the end of the week, and im not watching TNA!