Report: WWE Expected Much Higher Smackdown Viewership This Week

This week’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown was broadcast on FS1 rather than FOX due to the World Series. It will be returning this week.

The change was expected to see a drop in viewers, and that is exactly what happened. This week’s Smackdown drew just 888,000 viewers, nearly 50,000 fewer than AEW: Dynamite on Wednesday.

Reliable Twitter source WrestleVotes has followed this up by claiming that WWE expected Smackdown to draw far more viewers.

Prior to the move to FOX, Smackdown was broadcast on Tuesdays on the USA Network. According to the report, WWE expected Smackdown to bring in the same amount of viewers as when they were on USA.

It should be noted that Smackdown drew 2.099 million viewers for the final show on the USA Network in September.

Internally, WWE expected this past Friday’s SmackDown to do similar numbers to what the show was doing on USA Network prior to the move. It didn’t come close.

The Tuesday night to Friday night move hasn’t gone as expected, regardless of what FOX channel the show is on.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) October 28, 2019

 

WWE is likely to be furious upon hearing this news, so stay tuned to WrestleTalk.com for more on the backstage reaction to the abysmal ratings for Smackdown last week.

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• usa network
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