The Business Page

What Smackdown’s numbers mean to Fox… WWE Friday Night Smackdown brought 3.87 million viewers to Fox on October 4, winning the night in the coveted 18- to 49-year-old demographic and placing second in total viewers. The big question: Is that worth $1-billion to Rupert Murdoch and Fox Broadcasting?

Based on those numbers, it probably is. It was nearly impossible for Smackdown to penetrate CBS’ monster Friday-night lineup, particularly when it featured season premieres for three longstanding, highly rated dramas. Smackdown didn’t have a chance of catching up to Hawaii Five-O, with 6.4 million viewers, or Magnum P.I., with 6 million viewers. Comparing October 4 to the season-opener rollout last year, however, the numbers indicated that Smackdown did make a dent in total viewers against all these programs.

Smackdown had the opposite effect on the situation comedies airing at 8 p.m.