Monday Night Raw is the flagship show of the company, and it’s the most important one that WWE produces on a weekly basis. They do care about the ratings as they need to have as many people watching as possible. USA Network has struck a big deal with the WWE, and the organization is getting a lot of money for three hours of programming on Monday nights.
A lot of people are complaining about the fact that Raw is three hours, saying that the show lasts too long and there is a lot of filler every single week. It drags out too much, and the general opinion is that Raw would be much better every single week if the show dropped that third hour and make it quicker and at a higher pace. But the fact of the matter is that WWE is making hundreds of millions because of that third hour. Vince McMahon won’t do it because of the fans. He is in the business of making money and that third hour does the job.
Last week’s edition of Monday Night Raw was the one just a day after the Royal Rumble. Raws after the PPV, especially as big as the Rumble, always get good ratings. Lesnar was even on the show, and that spiked it a bit.
Now, a week later, WWE Universe is moving on from the Royal Rumble, so it’s understandable that the ratings were down this week. What it’s not expected is that the viewership drops down under 3 million. Here is the breakdown of the viewership by the hour of this past Monday Night Raw:
8 PM – First Hour: 3.339 million viewers
9 PM – Second Hour: 3.165 million viewers
10 PM – Third Hour: 2.842 million viewers
