At the beginning of the year, “WWE SmackDown” was struggling to grow its audience, having posted viewership numbers below the one million mark three weeks in a row. However, since WrestleMania season started after the Royal Rumble, the blue brand has slowly started to bounce back, with last Friday’s episode being the show’s second highest viewership of 2026.

According to Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider, “SmackDown” averaged 1,439,000 viewers and posted a 0.32 in the key 18-49 demographic. When comparing both categories to the previous week, total viewership slightly increased by 1%, while the 18-49 demo stayed even. “SmackDown” also ranked #6 for the night on cable in the key demographic despite going head-to-head with multiple college basketball games for March Madness.

In addition to “SmackDown’s” viewership rising, ticket sales for the brand have also improved as of late, with this past Friday’s show selling 12,961 seats in the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is the most tickets sold for a WWE event in the market since 2021. However, the same success hasn’t been replicated for “SmackDown’s” year-over-year ratings, with the program’s total viewership declining by 12% since March 2025. “SmackDown” has also failed to improve in the 18-49 demo, with the category being down by 35% since this time last year.

With WrestleMania 42 under a month away, it remains to be seen if “SmackDown” will continue to build upon last Friday’s totals and eclipse the 1.5 million viewer mark for the first time this year.