7/1 Raw Ratings Report: 1/4 Hour Ratings Posted As Well

One of the more intriguing quarter-hours of WWE Raw to examine this year is the John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio main event from the July 1 Raw episode. The results are mixed.

WWE heavily promoted the match within the show, using video packages showing past WWE champions and past World Hvt. champions to link to the present. However, WWE has watered down the value of titles over a period of time, hurt the drawing power of "WWE champ vs. World champ" by scrapping the brand split, and Del Rio has not been elevated to the level of a marquee heel opposite WWE's top star.

The result was the main event averaged 1.306 million viewers in the key male demographic of males 18-49. This was only slightly above the most-watched quarter-hour of the show, which was 1.261 million viewers for Q9 at the top of the third hour, which featured C.M. Punk in tag action with Curtis Axel.

- Cena vs. Del Rio break down: 1.158 million viewers at 10:50 p.m. when the match started, 1.279 million viewers at 10:55 when Raw cut to break, 1.179 million viewers when Raw returned from break at 10:59 p.m., and 1.301 million viewers at the top of the hour for the start of the over-run.

During the over-run, the match peaked with 1.433 million viewers at 11:06 p.m. just before the conclusion of the match. Once the match concluded, Raw dipped to 1.397 million viewers at 11:08 p.m., then went off the air with 1.268 million viewers at 11:09 p.m. for the show-closing on-camera from the announcers leading into a Wyatts vignette.

It captures the audience typically growing as a long, effectively-promoted match unfolds, especially during an over-run portion. But, it also captures this type of match starting off slowly, especially when a match starts at the end of Q12 as viewers are finishing other programming before flipping over to Raw for the over-run.

- Comparison: Mark Henry's speech in Q8, Punk & Axel vs. the Prime Time Players in Q9, a Divas-heavy segment in Q10 drew a similar audience to the Cena vs. Del Rio main event.

In Q8, Mark Henry's speech on John Cena averaged 1.286 million viewers, peaking with 1.411 million viewers for the conclusion.

In Q9, Punk's match started with 1.372 million viewers, peaked with 1.389 million viewers at 10:02 p.m., and re-peaked with 1.388 million viewers at 10:09 p.m. for the conclusion of the match.

The audience then held steady for a WWE Title vs. World Title vignette on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Sting, respectively, drawing 1.358 million viewers at 10:10 p.m.

In Q10, the Kaitlyn vs. Alicia Fox match, the post-match Photoshopping exhibit from A.J. Lee, and Stephanie McMahon addressing Vickie Guerrero's concerns drew one of the most consistent audiences of the show.

Kaitlyn vs. A-Fox peaked with 1.363 million viewers at 10:17 p.m., the A.J. skit peaked with 1.388 million viewers at 10:20 p.m., and Steph's segment drew 1.386 million viewers leading into commercial.

OVERALL: Cena-Del Rio in a 16-minute match averaged 1.306 million viewers from Q12 to the over-run, Henry's six-minute segment averaged 1.286 million viewers at the end of the second hour, Punk & Axel in a seven-minute match averaged 1.359 million viewers at the top of the third hour, and the six-minute Divas portion of Q10 averaged 1.344 million viewers.

Hourly Highlights

Numbers are for the m18-49 demographic.

Q1: Raw opened with a show-low audience of 1.034 million viewers. However, the audience grew throughout the MITB All-Star talking segment. Raw averaged 1.006 million viewers at 8:03 p.m., then wrapped up with 1.234 million viewers at 8:15 p.m.

Q2: Raw slightly increased to an average of 1.043 million viewers. This segment featured the first-half of The Shield vs. Christian & The Usos in a six-man tag repeat from Smackdown.

Q3: Raw increased to 1.109 million viewers, which is consistent with the pattern of longer matches growing the audience over time. Included was the most-watched-minute of the first hour, which 1.289 million viewers at 8:36 p.m. for the finish of the six-man tag match.

Q4: Raw dipped to 1.079 million viewers for Dolph Ziggler dodging 3MB and two full commercial breaks.

Q5: Raw got a slight top-of-the-second-hour bump to 1.137 million viewers for Randy Orton vs. Kane. The peak audience was - once again - at the end of a 12-minute match when Orton-Kane averaged 1.357 million viewers at 9:12 p.m. This was the peak audience of the first 30 minutes of the second hour.

Q6 & Q7: Raw dipped to 1.076 million viewers and 1.110 million viewers, respectively, for segments highlighted by Sheamus vs. Fandango and Ryback vs. The Miz.

Q8: Raw shot up to 1.195 million viewers for Mark Henry's on-stage speech. Included was the most-watched minute of the second hour with 1.411 million viewers at 9:54 p.m. for the conclusion of the speech.

Q9: Raw averaged a show-high 1.261 million viewers for the full quarter highlighted by Punk & Axel vs. the Players.

Q10: Raw averaged a similar audience of 1.221 million viewers for the full quarter highlighted by three-consecutive Divas segments.

Q11: Raw slipped to 1.121 for Antonio Cesaro vs. Cody Rhodes, the Bella Twins backstage, and the set-up for the main event.

Q12: Raw increased slightly to 1.133 million viewers for the first portion of the Cena vs. Del Rio main event.

Over-Run: Raw averaged 1.361 million viewers for the over-run. It was the most-watched over-run since we began tracking minute-by-minute ratings on May 27.

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