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WWE’s Smackdown notched some big ratings with the return of Paul Heyman and CM Punk. According to Fast Nationals, WWE’s Smackdown on the USA Network was watched by 551K viewers in the 18-49 demo, which bested other broadcasts by more than 100k viewers. Smackdown received 32% more viewers in the 18-49 demo than FOX’s Big 10 game between Michigan State and Purdue, which received 417k viewers.
Friday’s episode of Smackdown was also extremely popular on social media as well receiving nearly 2 million views on WWE’s Youtube channel in less than 24 hours.
Paul Heyman returning with CM Punk as OG Bloodline’s 5th man has already amassed over 1.4 MILLION views in less than 10 hours. 🔥📈#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/xTrpWMWmmz
— Cigano (@Cigano300) November 23, 2024
Back in September, Smackdown moved to USA from Fox in media rights shakeup. Smackdown will be on USA for the next five years and has held strong ratings since moving from linear television to cable.