WWE TV ratings and ratings will always be the most important yardstick to determine the results.
WWE has struggled quite a bit with declining TV ratings during the pandemic era of wrestling, and the arrival of AEW has only increased its scrutiny of TV rating trends. While the numbers in the United States are consistently low except for a few brief peaks, viewership in other countries paints a promising picture for WWE.
Michael Morales and Miguel Perez of Lucha Libre Online have released exclusive information about WWE ratings outside the United States. According to Lucha Libre Online reports, India is one of WWE’s most prominent markets as the country has pulled in astonishing numbers.
The average viewership for RAW in India in January 2021 was more than 4 million viewers per week. SmackDown pulled in 3 million a week, while NXT also managed to bring in just over a million in the first month of the new year.
South Africa averaged over 1 million viewers for both RAW and SmackDown. Canada, Germany and Italy drew about 300,000 viewers per week respectively for the broadcasts of RAW and SmackDown.
The report only had the SmakDown number for South Korea, which had more than 300,000 viewers. The RAW figures were not available.
These impressive numbers are only half the story for the WWE
WWE attracted an average of 5.9 million viewers for RAW in January 2021 from India, Canada, Germany, South Africa and Italy. For SmackDown, which also included the South Korean market, WWE had approximately 5.2 million viewers.
The report was quick to note that these numbers still don’t reveal the full story, as many countries and markets have been left out. It should be emphasized that WWE is broadcasting a litany of programs in Latin America, the UK, China, Japan and several other locations.
SmackDown has maintained a steady run in the US through 2021 as the Blue brand has remained above the two million mark. RAW officials have not been so lucky as the Red brand attracted about 1.85 million viewers in January 2021.
The Lucha Libre Online report concluded with the following detail:
The estimated real valuation between the aforementioned countries and the United States for Raw will increase to 7.2 million viewers per week in January 2021. While Raw has an average of 7.75 million viewers in the above countries.
The biggest takeaway from the report is the sheer importance of WWE’s TV deal in India. WWE’s excellent progress in India explains why the company invested a lot of time in setting up a separate show for the Indian fans.
WWE Superstar Spectacle was a successful event and there are plans to start a weekly show and boost homegrown talent and storylines.