Wrestling Ratings: A Reason They Are On The Decline

[Low_Ki]

In todays society, the WWE seem to have adopted the WCW method of eyeing ratings. No why I agree that for some shows the ratings are crucial to their staying power, but even though ratings in wrestling in general are not as great as they once were, the WWE, and TNA are in no worry of being put out by their stations.

A lot of people are starting to harp on the fact that RAW, Smackdown and iMPACT are not getting the ratings that they deserve/need to show an increase in popularity of their respective products. TNA bought in Hogan, which hiked the ratings up to 1.4 for one show and then they dipped again. The WWE made Punk champion and allegedly blamed him for the dip in ratings. Now Chris Jericho returns and the ratings go up 0.1.

My theory is this. Neilson Media do not count the number of wrestling fans who now turn to their laptops/PC's for their weekly wrestling shows. I for one, watch every weeks RAW on YouTube/DailyMotion because, living in the UK I cannot afford Sky Sports. Now I know it is different in the US, but surely we have to consider the notion that a lot of people are now watching weekly wrestling TV on their laptops from sites that cannot monitored. Am I ludicrous in thinking that a small portion of the audiences for RAW Smackdown and iMPACT cannot be measured as I am sure a lot of people are watching through their computers?

Is this a possibility or am I just making this all up?

 

[Big Papa Santo]

Me and my Girlfriend are saving money and only have about 10 channels on our TV(Not that I watch it much anyway except for boxing and basketball) But we have a laptop, so I for weeks now have been watching Raw on my laptop, so yes in this economy there may very well be alot of people turning to their PC/Laptops to watch wrestling and other media which cannot be accounted for in the ratings.

 

[Remy LaCroix]

It's possible, but I'm guessing it's a very small portion. Years ago I would watch Raw on Justin.tv along with about 300 other people - there's an indicator in the channel indicating how many people are watching a stream - and that's just for one channel in one site! This is something I've thought about and bitched about. Why can't WWE stream their shows via WWE.com? Meh, it's probably more work not worth doing.