Pre-taped SmackDown finishes first in the ratings despite drops

Last Fridays’s SmackDown featured some big names like Drew McIntyre in action, but the Feb. 23 episode largely felt like what it was — something WWE taped a week in advance, and that FOX aired just hours before WWE’s Elimination Chamber premium live event kicked off.

Numbers often drop for pre-taped shows, and drop they did for the latest SmackDown. According to Wrestlenomics, viewers were down 11% from the previous week to 2,272,000. The rating among 18-49 year olds fell 17% to .62, which is the lowest number the show’s done with that demographic so far this year.

But even with week-to-week and year-over-year declines, Wrestling Observer reports SmackDown had the best 18-49 rating among all network shows last Friday night. It outpaced all the sports competition on cable too per Sports Media Watch.

WWE will be back live this Friday to start SmackDown’s push to WrestleMania with an appearance by The Rock. We expect that will bump the numbers back up.

Until we find out next week, here’s a rundown of the past year’s worth of SmackDown’s numbers:

• Feb. 24, 2024 – 2.41 / .62
• Mar. 3 – 2.45 / .59
• Mar. 10 – 2.32 / .63
• Mar. 17 – 2.26 / .59
• Mar. 24 – 2.22 / .58
• Mar. 31 – 2.49 / .69
• April 7 – 2.47 / .69
• April 14 – 2.27 / .58
• April 21 – 2.18 / .54
• April 28 – 2.47 / .67
• May 5 – 2.06 / .52
• May 12 – 2.15 / .56
• May 19 – 2.13 / .53
• May 26 – 2.16 / .52
• June 2 – 2.56 / .73
• June 9 – 2.28 / .60
• June 16 – 2.43 / .67
• June 23 – 2.35 / .61
• June 30 – 2.51 / .69
• July 7 – 2.56 / .76
• July 14 – 2.31 / .62
• July 21* – 1.23 / .36
• July 28 – 2.32 / .61
• Aug. 4 – 2.25 / .62
• Aug. 11 – 2.1 / .55
• Aug. 18 – 2.09 / .55
• Aug. 25 – 2.65 / .78
• Sept. 1 – 2.44 / .65
• Sept. 8 – 2.09 / .53
• Sept. 15 – 2.57 / .70
• Sept. 22 – 2.23 / .63
• Sept. 29 – 2.30 / .60
• Oct. 6 – 2.32 / .64
• Oct. 13 – 2.42 / .62
• Oct. 20 – 2.25 / .59
• Oct. 28* – 1.15 / .35
• Nov. 3 – 2.12 / .53
• Nov. 10 – 2.2 / .57
• Nov. 17 – 2.21 / .62
• Nov. 24* – 789,000 / .24
• Dec. 1 – 2.04 million / .59
• Dec. 8 – 2.38 / .63
• Dec. 15 – 2.24 / .55
• Dec. 22 – 2.11 / .55
• Dec. 29** – 1.36 / .28
• Jan. 5, 2024 – 2.47 / .67
• Jan. 12 – 2.38 / .64
• Jan. 19 – 2.41 / .62
• Jan. 26 – 2.48 / .71
• Feb. 2 – 2.47 / .74
• Feb. 9 – 2.58 / .75
• Feb. 16 – 2.56 / .75
• Feb. 23 – 2.27 / .62

* Aired on FS1
** “Best of” clip show

For complete results and this week’s SmackDown live blog click here, and to read a recap & review of the night’s events click here.