Raw Viewership Takes A Dive Opposite NBA Finals On June 12
Going up against the NBA finals proved to be too tough for the viewership numbers of WWE Monday Night Raw, as they dropped back down from last week’s rebound.
Last night's episode of Monday Night RAW, featuring the advertised return of Brock Lesnar to confront Samoa Joe and The Hardys trying to regain the Tag Titles from Sheamus & Cesaro in a 2 out of 3 Falls main event, drew 2.542 million viewers, according to Show Buzz Daily. This is down 15% from the 2.994 million viewers that watched last week's episode and sets a new low bar for 2017. This also makes seven straight weeks of viewership below 3 million.
Advertising Brock Lesnar's return in the first segment of the night seemed to help, as the first hour drew by far the most viewers, garnering 2.769 million. The second hour dropped down to 2.522 million viewers and then the bottom dropped out, all the way down to 2.335 million viewers for the final hour.
The episode was up against some stiff competition on network TV, with Game 5 of the NBA Finals airing on ABC and drawing an average of 19.9 million viewers. Still, even with the drop off from last week, somehow RAW managed to take the #1 spot on cable for the night in viewership. RAW came in at #2 in the highly coveted 18-49 demographic, behind only Love & Hip-Hop on VH1.
