WWE Friday Night Smackdown Draws Strong Audience, Rating For USA Network Return

-- WWE Friday Night Smackdown last weekend, making its return to cable TV on the USA Network, averaged 1.723 million viewers - down from the episode a week ago when the show aired for the final time on FOX and drew 1.77 million. It should be noted though that FOX is available in more homes than USA so a downtrend in audience was clearly expected.

-- In the key 18-49 demo, Smackdown averaged a 0.55 rating which is actually a relatively strong rating and better than what the show generated on FOX last week. Both the rating and the viewership compare similarly to what Raw usually draws on USA though with the NFL season underway, that won't be the case until next year.