WWE News: Christmas SmackDown Live Rating Drops & Beats RAW, Falls In Top 5 (12/25/18)

How did SmackDown Live do in the ratings on Christmas night?

Due to the Christmas holiday this week, we’ve seen the release of weekly cable ratings for Monday and Tuesday night delayed until later in the week. Of course, RAW saw a tremendous drop on Christmas Eve (read more on that here), as did the usual Monday night juggernaut, Monday Night Football.

As for SmackDown Live, the numbers for Christmas night are now in and there’s another decrease from last week, dropping down to a 1.904, a 14% drop, but good enough to beat out RAW the previous night. Here’s a look at the last four weeks of ratings for the blue brand:

• December 4th: 1.948
• December 11th: 1.977
• December 18th: 2.214
• December 25th: 1.904

Meanwhile, unlike RAW, SmackDown Live took a fall in the Cable Top 150 Rankings for the 18-49 demographic, getting knocked off the top of the heap down to fifth. Here is this week’s top five:

1. NBA Basketball (Milwaukee/New York) – ESPN – 1.18
2. NBA Basketball (Utah/Portland) – ESPN – 0.88
3. NBA Basketball (Lakers/Golden State) – ESPN – 0.85
4. NBA Courtside (12PM) – ESPN – 0.71
5. SmackDown Live – USA Network – 0.61

EA’s Take: If you need any further proof of just how unusual ratings and even demographic numbers can be during a major holiday, look no further than the order of the NBA games in the top five. It’s all about availability, as people are busy with family throughout the day and clearly, they were the busiest during the Lakers/Warriors game, right? How else do you explain the Lakers/Warriors not finishing ahead of Bucks/Knicks (the Knicks are a dumpster fire, but the game was on at noon) or Utah/Portland, which didn’t start until 10:30 on the East Coast? Perhaps, it was a case of the audience being a little split since that game went head-to-head with SmackDown Live. With all that being said, let’s try not and put too much stock into the blue brand beating RAW this week.