With UPN's move of the show to 8-10 p.m. Friday nights starting Sept. 9, WWE Smackdown! will be renamed, appropriately enough, Friday Night Smackdown!
While the World Wrestling Entertainment production reaches UPN’s overall adult 18-34 audience, ranking first in young males, it doesn’t really target its core younger women audience.
But it would be difficult to turn away a show that has delivered competitive numbers, including besting some major nets, in its tough 8-10 p.m. Thursday time slot this season, and could do better on Fridays.
Despite its ratings slide over the years, wrestling season-to-date is still averaging 5.1 million total viewers for UPN, second overall on the netlet (behind America’s Next Top Model) and good enough for third or fourth in its slot up against the likes of CSI, Survivor and The Apprentice.
It holds up well during the summer too, since all the episodes are originals.
In adults 18-34, Smackdown has achieved a 1.8 rating/6 share, putting it only behind two versions of Model and just a tenth of a point behind Britney & Kevin.
It skews older than the netlet’s other shows, averaging a 1.9/5 in adults 18-49.
