The WWE brand split has yet to resonate with viewers of its signature weekly TV series, Raw and Smackdown.
Both shows were down in viewer numbers this week, Raw only marginally, down two-tenths of a percentage point from last week, drawing 2.684 million viewers, but that number was the lowest for a non-holiday episode of Raw dating back to the 1990s.
Smackdown had been on the verge of catching Raw in the numbers last week, drawing 2.658 million, but dropped this week to 2.292 million, down 14 percent.
What to make of these trends given the growth in the subscriber base and streaming hours associated with the WWE Network is at best a guess, but USA Network can’t be as happy as it would like to be, given the rights fees it pays to be able to sell WWE programming.
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Chris Graham
