WWE SmackDown sees increase in ratings, viewership & key demo

New reports confirm that WWE SmackDown has seen a rise in both its viewership and its key demographic ratings.

Last Friday's show featured a tag team main event between RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) and The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso). With both the RAW and the SmackDown Tag Team Championships on the line, history and bragging rights were at stake. Undisputed WWE and Universal Champion Roman Reigns helped his Bloodline family win and unify the tag titles.

It seems as though this high-profile main event match was enough to improve the ratings for the blue brand, as confirmed in the new statistics from Brandon Thruston.

The show drew 2.031 million viewers on Friday night, an 11% rise from the previous week. The episode also drew a 0.45 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, a 12.5% rise from the last week.

What was WWE SmackDown up against in the ratings?

SmackDown was the second-highest-rated show on network TV this past Friday night, second only to the season finale of Shark Tank.

The show's second half also went head-to-head with an NBA playoff game on TNT and an NHL playoff game broadcast on ESPN. The games drew 6.8 million and 2.02 million viewers and 2.11 and 0.66 in the key demo, respectively.

Apart from the high-stakes main event, the WWE SmackDown episode also featured Shinsuke Nakamura taking on Sami Zayn, Raquel Rodriguez vs./ Shotzi, and Xavier Woods going one-on-one with Butch.

It will be interesting to see whether WWE's Friday Night Show will be able to keep the ratings up and whether The Bloodline's dominance will translate to further viewership boost. You can read more about SmackDown by clicking here.