Last year WWE announced a new deal with ESPN that would bring their premium live events to the new streaming service ESPN Unlimited. In addition to the premium live events on the ESPN Unlimited app, the deal has also opened the door for WWE content to be featured on ESPN proper.
Over the weekend the first hour of night 1 of WrestleMania 42 aired live on ESPN 2, while the first hour of night 2 aired live on ESPN, and now the viewership has been revealed.
Front Office Sports is reporting that the first hour of night 1 drew 1.62 million viewers on ESPN 2, and the first hour of night 2 drew 1.82 million viewers on ESPN. It was noted that these numbers do not include everyone who was viewing the show on the ESPN Unlimited streaming service which aired the show in its entirety.
It was also noted that the one hour countdown for WrestleMania 42 drew 676,000 viewers on Saturday on ESPN2, while night 2 drew 750,000 viewers on Sunday on ESPN.
In WWE’s press release touting the success of WrestleMania 42 it was mentioned that night 1 was the most viewed telecast of the year on ESPN 2, while WrestleMania Sunday was the most-viewed telecast of the entire weekend on ESPN.
Viewing numbers for people who watched the show on the ESPN Unlimited app and Netflix internationally have not been released as of this writing. Stay tuned for updates.