Syfy will look to pin down wrestling fans on Thursday nights with the January move of its popular WWE SmackDown series from Friday evenings.
SmackDown, which is averaging 3.1 million viewers on Friday nights, will move to Thursdays beginning Jan. 15 at 8 p.m., said the network. Currently the network airs acquired movies in primetime on Thursdays.
"Quite simply, more young men watch television on Thursday nights than on Fridays,” said Michael Engleman, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Digital and Global Brand Strategy for Syfy in a statement. “Among Men 18-49, PUTs (persons using television) are 15 percent higher compared to Fridays, expanding the potential audience for SmackDown. Since the majority of broadcast programming skews female, we're also using Thursday nights to counterprogram."
