Another 52,000 U.S. homes dropped cable and satellite over the last month. The total erosion is from 101 million to 98.7 million over the past couple of years. What was notable to me is when WWE announced its Hulu Plus deal, I heard from people who said that they were now going to start back watching it because they had given up when giving up cable.
Raw on 10/1 did a 2.54 rating and 3.50 million viewers as noted on page one. Even with the record-low numbers, it was the third highest rated show on cable that night, trailing only football and Major Crimes on TNT.
The show did a 2.0 in teenage boys (same as last week), 2.0 in Males 18-49 (down 25%), 0.6 in Girls 12-17 (same as the past two weeks) and 0.8 in Women 18-49 (same as last week). The show had 68.9% male viewers. Like with Impact, viewers per home were at all-time low levels.
In the segment-by-segment, the long interview segment with C.M. Punk, Paul Heyman, Vickie Guerrero, Dolph Ziggler, A.J. Lee, Kane and Daniel Bryan opened at a 2.74 and gained 4,000 viewers.
Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Primo & Epico and Brodus Clay vs. Antonio Cesaro lost 461,000 viewers.
The Miz vs. Zack Ryder lost 47,000 viewers and did a 2.37 quarter.
The Sheamus/Big Show debate which had the usual 9 p.m. growth gained 421,000 viewers.
Ryback vs. Tensai and Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix lost 350,000 viewers.
Santino Marella vs. Heath Slater gained 222,000 viewers. That one surprised me.
Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow in the long match lost 63,000 viewers and that was the 10 p.m. segment. I think we can declare the 10 p.m. segment traditional growth as being on life support.
The show was laid out for the 10 p.m. segment to be the Jim Ross Appreciation Night with Punk, Heyman and Ryback at the end. Instead, they didn’t really get going until the 10:15 p.m. death spot, but instead of a huge loss, it gained 461,000 viewers to a show-topping 2.89 quarter.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston lost 824,000 viewers and did a 2.29 quarter, the lowest quarter for a regular episode of Raw in 15 years. Basically, 21% of all the viewers who watched the Ross segment, tuned out, whether it was football or elsewhere, when that segment ended. 38% of teenage boys tuned out, 25% of Males 18-49, 28% of teenage girls and 20% of Women 18-49 tuned out at that point.
The Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler & C.M. Punk main event gained 532,000 viewers to a 2.70 overrun.