Raw on 12/26 did a 2.93 rating and 4.47 million viewers. The rating was almost identical with the prior week but there were 180,000 more viewers on a night when overall television viewership was down 7.7%, although that’s misleading because all the networks were in reruns. The show was 6th for the night on cable. The Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints game where Drew Brees set the all-time single season passing yardage record did a 10.60 rating and 15.64 million viewers.
The big news is the curse of the second hour losing audience from the first hour ended. The reason is more that the first hour didn’t do well, then the second hour did well. In particular, Raw of late has been starting with a strong first quarter, but the C.M. Punk/John Laurinaitis first quarter did a only a 2.94, and the usual big drop didn’t happen. There were a significant amount of usual Raw viewers who either didn’t bother to watch the first quarter and turn it off like usual, or did watch it but turned it off in a minute.
The show did a 2.3 in Males 12-17 (down 18% from last week), 2.6 in Males 18-49 (up 4%), 1.1 in Females 12-17 (up 38%) and 1.2 in Females 18-49 (down 8%). Male viewership was 67.1% of total viewers.
In the segment-by-segment, Booker T vs. Cody Rhodes lost 149,000 viewers. Backstage stuff with John Cena and Zack Ryder, Big Show and Kelly Kelly, Laurinaitis, Show and David Otunga and Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Vickie Guerrero and Mark Henry gained 78,000 viewers. Ryder & Eve Torres vs. Tyson Kidd & Natalya and a Cena interview lost 67,000 viewers. Cena vs. The Miz and post-match R-Truth attack gained 325,000 viewers, which is below usual but better than in some recent weeks. Big Show vs. David Otunga with one hand tied behind his back and an Alberto Del Rio interview with the Bellas gained 34,000 viewers. Punk vs. Swagger lost 367,000 viewers. Punk vs. Ziggler gained 172,000 viewers to a 2.91 main event average. The Cena/Kane overrun gained 543,000 viewers to a do a 3.26. As far as the demo changes with Cena and Kane out last, Male teens went from 2.8 to 3.1, Men 18-49 went from 2.8 to 3.2, Women teens went from 1.0 to 1.3 and Women 18-49 stayed at 1.0.