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WWE has many fans around the world; however, you might wonder exactly how popular it is compared to other sports. Is it close to America's favorite sports, such as football and basketball? A short answer would be that it is popular enough to have had a betting market develop, even despite its unique nature as sports entertainment. Some excellent betting sites in the U.S. offer wagering on WWE. You can see the full list of these sites to find out how they compare based on factors like the number of sports available and minimum deposit. That said, they all offer fast payouts, rewarding odds, and generous bonuses.
There are multiple ways to compare the popularity of sports, and, unfortunately, none are perfect. This article compares WWE to other sports based on TV ratings, live attendance of events, and the number of YouTube subscribers.
Television ratings are one metric that can be used to compare the popularity of sports.
According to Wrestlenomics, which cites Nielsen as its source, the total viewership per day of WWE SmackDown has been fluctuating between 1M and 1.8M in 2025, while NXT, in 2025, has had a total daily viewership between 600K and 900K.
Football is one of America's favorite sports, and one might expect the NFL to have a higher viewership than the WWE, which it does, but not by an entire order of magnitude. Below is a list of recent NFL events and their viewerships according to Sports Media Watch:
Bears - Bills, Preseason Game: averaging 5.1M viewers on FOX
Chargers - Lions, Hall of Fame Game: averaging 6.1M viewers on NBC
Draft Day 3: averaging 4.3M viewers on TV and streaming services
The Wimbledon Championships took place not long ago. While tennis is not as popular in the U.S. as in some other parts of the world, Wimbledon is considered the most prestigious tennis tournament. The men's final, between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, had an average viewership of 3.2M on ESPN, a rather high number; however, some earlier matches averaged fewer than 1M viewers, well below the average number of SmackDown viewers.
WWE has high TV ratings among sports, albeit not the highest. A significant difference between WWE and other sports is that WWE has a consistent audience throughout the year, while other sports experience a rise in followers during important matches.
Another way to compare the popularity of sports is by the live attendance of events.
The attendance of WWE events has been oscillating, experiencing a peak in 1999 and another surge in recent years. As reported by Wrestlenomics, the average attendance of main roster WWE events in 2024 was 10,700.
The average live attendance of 9 popular leagues and tournaments is listed below:
Formula 1, 2024: 270,833
NFL, 2024: 68,954
FIFA World Cup, 2023: 35,270
MLB, 2024: 29,374
NBA, 2024-25: 18,153
NHL, 2024-25: 17,542
IHF World Men's Handball Championship, 2023: 5,519
Davis Cup Finals, 2023: 5,032
FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship, 2023: 2,364
Once again, the NFL is the winner among non-motorized sports, and while WWE's attendance would not put it at the top of the list, it is higher than the attendance of some sports that are considered fairly popular.
Looking at the number of YouTube subscribers tells a different story. With 110M subscribers, WWE is among the top 20 of all YouTube channels, which puts it high above all other sports channels. NFL, for instance, has 14.8M subscribers.
The WWE YouTube channel was created in 2007 and has been regularly uploading a variety of content that fans highly enjoy, including exclusive interviews, post-event press conferences, vlogs, and career retrospectives.
A big part of the channel's appeal comes from the consistency of uploads. As soon as an event ends, highlights are uploaded.
It is hard to tell whether the high number of WWE's subscribers on YouTube means it is more popular than other sports. What can be concluded is that it is high on the list.
Comparing the popularity of sports is a difficult task, and a definitive answer about any particular sport's popularity cannot really be given. Different bases of comparison lead to contrasting results, which might have to do with WWE's distinctive identity compared to traditional sports. A distinguishing property of WWE seems to be the consistency of its following throughout the year, reflected both in TV ratings, and the regularity of uploads on YouTube.
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