Raw managed to pull off an impressive feat this week as we look at the flagship’s ratings, viewership, and demo numbers. Despite facing the competition of the College Football Playoff National Championship between the Georgia Bulldogs and TCU Horned Frogs, Raw kept its numbers steady. Actually, it did more than that as Raw continued an increase in viewership for the third week in a row, touching just under 1.7M for January’s second show. Not bad at all considering the national championship game was viewed by as many as 22.3M people at its peak. That’s a lot of eyes that weren’t on USA Network.
Let’s take a deeper dive into the numbers for this week’s Raw ratings to see how the red brand fared against college football’s biggest game of the season.
WWE Ratings – Raw Rating and Viewership Data for January 9, 2022
WWE Raw last night on USA Network (8-11pm):
1,693,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.50Expect ranking info later from Showbuzz
📊 https://t.co/qDSSxyAPtr pic.twitter.com/UPN4UZYNle— Wrestlenomics (@wrestlenomics) January 10, 2023
As reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, this week’s episode of Raw had a total of 1,693,000 viewers and a demo rating of 0.50, marking the third consecutive week that the Raw ratings numbers increased both in viewership and the demo according to ITN WWE. This week’s .50 in P18-49 marks Raw’s highest demo score since October 17th. The National Championship meanwhile, drew an 8.7 rating with an average of 17.2M viewers. It is worth noting that the game started at 8:30 and had its largest viewership in the first quarter hour. Viewership dipped all the way to just over 10M by the end of the game, which was a record blowout for Georgia (65-7), and record low viewership total since the launch of the College Football Playoff eight years ago.
For Raw ratings to still draw a respectable number against one of sport’s highest rated events of the year is impressive. But for the flagship to do so off of a show that didn’t have a single match announced in advance is even more so. While it’s not certain if Raw was attempting to phone in this week due to the anticipated competition, that wouldn’t be out of the norm. Against Monday Night Football competition, Fall is often seen as WWE’s slow period as numbers always take a dip against football. Raw won’t have it any easier next week either as the show will be going up against the Dallas Cowboys vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Monday night wildcard playoff game.
Read More: SmackDown Ratings, Viewership and Demo (1/6/23): How Big Was the Post Cena Dropoff?
Raw ratings were impacted by an episode that featured the return of Bobby Lashley, Judgment Day emerging victorious in the tag team turmoil gauntlet, defeating the OC, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander, Alpha Academy, and finally the Street Profits, to receive a shot at the Raw Tag Team Championship, Kevin Owens defeating Baron Corbin and fending off an attack from the Bloodline, a segment with Uncle Howdy and Alexa Bliss, Bayley vs Michin, Rhea Ripley vs Candice LeRae, Solo Sikoa vs Dolph Ziggler, and a special Miz TV with Dominik Mysterio.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on the Raw ratings reports and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and Peacock.
