Here are the viewer and ratings numbers for the “Friday night war” between WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage, where SmackDown went head to head with Rampage from 10-10:30 ET this past Friday, October 15.
Overall Viewers
– WWE SmackDown: 866,000 overall viewers from 8-10:30PM on FS1
– AEW Rampage: 578,000 overall viewers from 10-11PM on TNT
18-49 Demo Rating
– WWE SmackDown: 0.24 18-49 rating (314,000 viewers) from 8-10:30PM on FS1 (#3 for the night on cable)
– AEW Rampage: 0.24 18-49 rating (313,000 viewers) from 10-11PM on TNT (#4 for the night on cable)
Head to Head (10-10:30)
– WWE SmackDown: 878,000 viewers / 293,000 18-49 viewers
– AEW Rampage: 602,000 viewers / 328,000 18-49 viewers
So… SmackDown won in overall viewers, but the shows virtually tied in the key 18-49 demographic, which is one of the most important metrics looked at by advertisers.
Head to head (10-10:30), SmackDown again won in overall viewers, but Rampage beat SmackDown in the key 18-49 demo.
From 10:00 – 10:15, Rampage won 363,000 to 277,000 in the 18-49 demo. That was a CM Punk vs. Daniel Garcia match beating a Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks match.
From 10:15 – 10:30, the shows were tied 293,000 to 293,000 in the 18-49 demo, meaning that a Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar segment tied a Ruby Soho vs. The Bunny match.
Rampage also had six minutes of commercials from 10:15 – 10:30, while SmackDown was commercial-free from 10:00 – 10:30 while going head to head with Rampage.
More Friday ratings: Showbuzz Daily
Quarter-hours for WWE Smackdown (FS1) and AEW Rampage (TNT) from Friday.
For the 30 minutes they went head-to-head, Smackdown was ahead in total viewership and P35-49 but Rampage ahead in P18-49 and P18-34.
📈 More details: https://t.co/7BKWtZBgYX pic.twitter.com/5JZWQd7m4n
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) October 18, 2021
Tony Khan Comments
Tony Khan, who talked about wanting to beat SmackDown head to head last week, celebrated Rampage topping WWE’s “A-show” in the key demo head to head.
LET’S GO @AEW FANS, WRESTLERS, STAFF! EVERYONE, LFG #AEW!!!! https://t.co/CMAT5F0jCd
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) October 18, 2021
Here’s a story nobody leaked to you over the weekend but I’ll give you rn, dog: @AEW got a big victory over WWE after WWE aggressively extended their Friday show 30 minutes & loaded it up head-to-head 10-10:30pm vs #AEWRampage, with AEW Rampage winning 328k to 285k (+15% margin).
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) October 18, 2021