Just like Monday Night Raw, Smackdown suffered a drop in viewers compared to 2020, with 2021 brining an average of 2,077,000 viewers, down 105,000 viewers from last year’s average of 2,182,000 viewers. Smackdown had an average of 0.54 in the 18-49 demo.
The show did better than Raw when it comes to surpassing the 2 million viewership mark, with Smackdown doing it 39 times out of 52 weeks, not a bad number considering WWE viewership was down across the board.
The January 22 and September 10 episodes drew the most, with 2,383,000 viewers respectively although the September 10 show drew a 0.65 rating in the 18-49 demo while the January 22 had a 0.63. The July 16 broadcast, the first one with fans back, was 2,310,000 viewers and a 0.66 rating in 18-49.
The least-watched episode of Smackdown was the October 16 broadcast which did 866,000 viewers only when it was relegated to FS1 and the October 29 broadcast, also on FS1, drew just 1,032,000 viewers. The shows did 0.24 and 0.29 ratings in the 18-49 demo respectively for the lowest as well.
Smackdown ranked #1 consistently in the 18-49 demo throughout the year, beating out other networks but often came last in total viewership.
There were 51 Smackdowns this year as the last one of the year was just a Best Of show on FS1.
