Due to the World Series being on Fox, WWE Friday Night Smackdown was on FS1 where it outdrew AEW Rampage on TNT. Smackdown drew 1.32M overall viewers per Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily whereas the one hour edition of AEW Rampage drew 623,000 viewers.
Notably, Smackdown finished third overall in cable ratings while Rampage was right behind them. A pair of NBA games on ESPN finished 1-2 in cable for Friday night.
Smackdown drew 0.29 in the A18-49 demo, 0.22 in F18-49 and 0.35 in M18-49, 0.15 in A18-34, 0.10 in F12-34, 0.19 in M12-34, 0.35 in A25-54 and 0.53 in over 50.
AEW Rampage drew 0.25 in the A18-49 demo, 0.15 in F18-49 and 0.34 in M18-49, 0.17 in A18-34, 0.09 in F12-34, 0.20 in M12-34, 0.27 in A25-54 and 0.23 in over 50.
Payout Perspective:
Despite the change in nights, the overall viewership skewed toward Smackdown albeit on a different night. While Rampage was just a one hour telecast its ratings have been mediocre compared to Dynamite. While its clear that fans may have watched both, its clear that WWE received more viewership on FS1 which does not have a lot of casual traffic. Also, the ratings show that WWE is still a bigger and wider-known brand than AEW despite its popularity with the younger generation.
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