Did WWE RAW ratings increase during Vince McMahon controversy?
The wrestling world has been buzzing about the allegations against Vince McMahon and the current shakeup at the top of WWE. The ratings for this week's episode of WWE RAW are in and the show saw a big increase in viewership.
This week's episode of WWE RAW had an average viewership of 1.986 million viewers, making it the highest total viewership since the RAW after WrestleMania on April 4th.
Monday's episode brought in 709,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic, the highest number since April 11 (0.54). RAW saw an increase of 17.17% from last week in total viewership and 26.38% in the 18-49 demographic. Monday's episode went up against Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, which finished #1 for the night.
Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics noted that last Friday's episode of SmackDown featured an advertised appearance from Vince when the initial report from the Wall Street Journal was released. WWE did not advertise McMahon's appearance on this week's RAW.
Last night's Raw was up nearly as much as Friday's Smackdown, compared to the trailing 4 weeks.
Smackdown had an advertised appearance from Vince McMahon (the day there was wide news coverage of scandal and management change), Raw did not. https://t.co/6Qkh5lrA9C
Vince McMahon's recent appearances on WWE have increased viewership
The former WWE CEO recently stepped down while WWE's Board of Directors launched an investigation into a secret $3 million settlement he had with a former employee that he allegedly had an affair with.
Stephanie McMahon has been announced as the Interim CEO for the time being, but Vince has maintained his creative control over the promotion. He appeared on last Friday's episode of SmackDown and the show brought in its biggest viewership since September of last year.
The audience from last week's SmackDown appeared to tune into RAW as well. Brandon Thurston added that Vince McMahon's segment was at roughly 8:35 PM and the viewership increased 12% in the key demo for the following hour.
Vince McMahon’s brief unadvertised appearance occurred at about 8:35pm. Hard to say what influence it had on the rating. Viewership in the 9pm hour grew 12% in the demo. https://t.co/ycLi1NwT8x
Vince McMahon appeared on last night's RAW to promote John Cena's return to WWE on June 27th. After a brief promo, he jumped off the steel steps and to the floor below. The wrestling world is having fun with the McMahon jump and you can see some of the reactions here.