The TV ratings and viewership data are in for the Jan. 16, 2026 episode of WWE SmackDown on the USA Network.
Per Wrestlenomics, last week’s SmackDown was watched by 968,000 total viewers and did a .21 rating in the 18-49 year old demographic. The show was taped in London and aired on delay in the United States after streaming live for most of the world a few hours earlier. It featured qualifiers for this weekend’s 4-way to determine Drew McIntyre’s WWE title challenger at next weekend’s Royal Rumble,
and fell in comparison to the previous week’s pre-taped broadcast: 2% in overall audience, and 19% in demo rating.
SmackDown finished second among all original cable programming on the night, behind ESPN’s NBA coverage. That pro basketball game was the #1 show on broadcast or cable on the 16th with a a .35 rating.
Perhaps most concerningly, WWE’s Friday night numbers are way off where they were a year ago. The changes Nielson made to they way they calculate their viewership numbers make year-to-year comparisons difficult, but a 31% drop in audience and 50% in the demo from the same week in 2025 is worth noting regardless.
They’ll be back live this week with the Royal Rumble go home. That should help… and will be the WWE’s last Olympics-free Friday for a few weeks. We’ll find out how it does, then update our list of SmackDown results from the past year:
- Jan. 17, 2025 – 1.40 million viewers / .42 demo rating
- Jan. 24 – 1.44 / .44
- Jan. 31 – 1.58 / .51
- Feb. 7 – 1.51 / .48
- Feb. 14 – 1.38 / .42
- Feb. 21 – 1.74 / .51
- Feb. 28 – 1.73 / .52
- March 7 – 1.74 / .52
- March 14 – 1.57 / .52
- March 21 – 1.46 / .39
- March 28 – 1.35 / .40
- April 4 – 1.58 / .47
- April 11 – 1.55 / .45
- April 18 – 1.74 / .55
- April 25 – 1.60 / .51
- May 2 – 1.41 / .37
- May 9 – 1.46 / .41
- May 16 – 1.29 / .36
- May 23 – 1.38 / .33
- May 30 – 1.38 / .34
- June 6 – 1.42 / .42
- June 13 – 1.40 / .38
- June 20 – 1.52 / .38
- June 27 – 1.45 / .41
- July 4** – 1.17 / .32
- July 11 – 1.40 / .37
- July 18 – 1.55 / .45
- July 25 – 1.71 / .48
- Aug. 1 – 1.54 / .46
- Aug. 8 – 1.56 / .48
- Aug. 15 – 1.43 / .35
- Aug. 22 – 1.26 / .35
- Aug. 29 – 1.15 / .28
- Sept. 5 – 1.59 / .51
- Sept. 12 – 1.32 / .37
- Sept. 19 – 1.34 / .37
- Sept. 26 – 1.24 / .35
- Oct. 3º – 1.03 / .23
- Oct. 10 – 1.03 / .22
- Oct. 17 – 1.18 / .28
- Oct. 24 – 1.15 / .29
- Oct. 31 – 993K / .20
- Nov. 7 – 1.14 million / .26
- Nov. 14 – 1.16 / .27
- Nov. 21 – 1.21 / .29
- Nov. 28 – 1.14 / .28
- Dec. 5 – 1.06 / .24
- Dec. 12 – 1.24 / .26
- Dec. 19 – 995K / .21
- Dec. 26 – 1.14 million / .27
- Jan. 2, 2026* – 1.18 / .28
- Jan. 9 – 990K / .26
- Jan. 16 – 968K / .21
* Added a third hour
** Returned to two hours
º Nielsen began using their Big Data + Panel calculation
For complete results from the latest SmackDown, our live blog is here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here.
