WWE TV ratings and viewership figures will always be the most important measure to determine its results.
WWE had a fair share of the struggle with dwindling TV ratings during the pandemic era of wrestling, and the advent of AEW only heightened the investigation into TV rating trends. While the numbers in the United States have been consistently low, except for a few brief increases, viewing in other countries paints a promising picture for the WWE.
Michael Morales and Miguel Perez of Lucha Libre Online have released exclusive information about WWE’s ratings outside the United States. According to reports from Lucha Libre Online, India is one of WWE’s most prominent markets because the country has recorded astonishing numbers.
The average viewership for RAW in India for January 2021 was more than 4 million viewers per week. SmackDown pulled in 3 million a week, while NXT also managed to pull in a little over a million in the first month of the new year.
South Africa achieved an average of more than 1 million viewers for both RAW and SmackDown. Canada, Germany and Italy, respectively, drew about 300,000 viewers a week for the RAW and SmackDown broadcasts.
The report only had the SmakDown number for South Korea, which was more than 300,000 viewers. The RAW figures were not available.
These impressive numbers are only half the story for the WWE
WWE succeeds in attracting an average of 5.9 million viewers for RAW in January 2021 from India, Canada, Germany, South Africa and Italy. For SmackDown, which also includes the South Korean market, WWE reached about 5.2 million viewers.
The report quickly noted that these figures still do not reveal the full story, as many countries and markets have been left out. It should be emphasized that WWE broadcasts a number of programs in Latin America, the United Kingdom, China, Japan and several other places.
SmackDown maintained a steady run in the U.S. in 2021 as the Blue brand remained above the two million threshold. RAW officials were not yet so happy as the brand Red was able to attract about 1.85 million viewers in January 2021.
The Lucha Libre Online report concluded with the following details:
The approximate real appreciation between Raw and the previous countries and the United States rises until January 2021 to 7.2 million viewers per week. While Raw has an average of 7.75 million viewers in the above countries.
The biggest takeaway from the report was the importance of the WWE’s TV deal in India. WWE’s excellent progress in India explains why the company spent so much time setting up a separate show for the Indian fans.
WWE Superstar Spectacle was a successful event, and it is reported that they will be launching a weekly show and expanding homemade talents and storylines.