Even with the McMahon family storyline, Raw moved back into normal non-football territory with 3.54 million viewers, down five percent from last week.
The audience total was also down about 8 percent from the same week last year as the March 9, 2015 edition did 3.86 million viewers. The 3.54 million should equate to a rating between 2.45 and 2.5, which is down from the 2.63 that last week’s show and the 2.85 the show did last year.
This week’s show also returned to the normal pattern with a declining audience throughout the show and the big third hour drop.
It was the highest rated show on cable for last night, beating Major Crimes on TBS which did 3.49 million viewers and The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News at 3.32 million viewers. The three hours of RAW were also the top 3 rated programs in the highly desirable 18-49 demo, doing 1.29, 1.27 and 1.23 respectively. The 3rd hour was percentage points ahead of the 4th rated program, Love and Hip Hop.
Viewership totals for each hour:
8 p.m. 3.76 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.61 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.28 million viewers