SmackDown made the move to Friday nights on FOX a few weeks ago, but this week the show was bumped to FS1 due to World Series coverage airing on FOX.
It doesn’t look like the temporary shift to FS1 did SmackDown any favors, as the show only drew 888,000 viewers.
According to WrestleVotes, WWE officials expected SmackDown on FS1 to do a similar number to what it was doing on USA Network prior to moving to FOX.
It’s worth noting that the final episode of SmackDown on USA Network drew 2.099 million viewers back in September.
The SmackDown premiere on FOX earlier this month drew 3.888 million viewers, while viewership dropped in the weeks that followed with the blue brand drawing 2.877 million viewers for the October 12 show, and 2.418 million viewers for the October 18 show.
Internally, WWE expected this past Friday’s SmackDown to do similar numbers to what the show was doing on USA Network prior to the move. It didn’t come close.
The Tuesday night to Friday night move hasn’t gone as expected, regardless of what FOX channel the show is on.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) October 28, 2019
