The WWE came back in a big way with Friday Night SmackDown and it easily topped the night across all networks on Friday night for Fox.
On Fox, Friday Night SmackDown drew a 1.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.87 million viewers. This allowed the broadcast to lead the demo not just across both hours it aired, but across the entire night. Fox forked over a hefty sum to air SmackDown on Friday nights and it looks like an investment that may have been worth it.
CBS had to settle for second place for the first time in years thanks to Fox although its Friday lineup did hold well in week 2. Hawaii Five-O was the night’s second strongest broadcast at a 0.7 demo rating and 6.93 million viewers, while both Magnum P.I. and Blue Bloods each continued at a 0.6 demo score and 6.02 and 7.39 million viewers respectively.
On ABC, American Housewife stumbled from a strong 0.7 down to 0.5 demo rating, faltering from 3.34 million viewers to 3.30 million in the process. The same happened to Fresh Off the Boat which stumbled similarly from a 0.5 premiere to 0.4 demo score and 2.37 million viewers.
On NBC, The Blacklist debuted its seventh season at a 0.5 demo rating with 3.97 million viewers. This was predictably lower than the 0.9 demo score with 4.15 million viewers it premiered at last season when the series was still airing on Thursday nights. Considering Friday nights can be rough for network TV, it’s a decent showing for its new night.
Recapping Friday’s numbers I’m thinking SmackDown, if it stays strong, may end up becoming the new king of Friday programming, giving Fox a huge win over CBS for the night. CBS should still be happy they saw no declines week to week and didn’t collapse against the WWE.
