How would you increase TNA's PPV buyrates.

[My$terio_Fan]

While TNA countinues to improve in ratings and make a small profit, I still think they could do more to make the promotion even bigger. Alot of TNA critics and fans alike speak out about TNA's buyrates.

While no "official" numbers get released, we all hear the inside mumblings. Even if it's true, TNA could still work to get the buyrates up. Personally I think maybe lowering the price, and/or offering different promotional offers would make people more willing to buy the PPV.

Also it seems if their is a demand for the product the show would sell. So even if TNA PPV's stayed the same price and all, people would still buy them, if they had potential to be great. But TNA really needs to work on their weak filler matches on PPV's. They need to build things up better, and make PPV's actually seem different then an episode of impact.

What would you do to get buyrates up? Any creative ideas? Reduce # of PPV's? Add in more celebrity involvement? Or do you think TNA sucks, and will always have low buy numbers due to the poor quality of the product?

 

[Louie Lips]

I would try out several things. First off, I would maybe make them cheaper, as TNA is not as mainstream as WWE, and cannot pull in the same money off a PPV. Also, I would try giving merchandise for orders. For example, everybody who orders Hard Justice gets an autographed poster from a TNA wrestler or something like that. If that didn't work, I would say maybe advertise more, as I don't see TNA commercials too often.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As of right now, really the only match I even remotely care about is the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match. My interest in it is basically due to Matt Morgan's unexpected presence there. As for the rest of it, I mainly couldn't give two shits about it and, for me, a reason for some of that dislike can be found on this last night's Impact.

The X-Division Championship, for instance, doesn't seem to be much of a priority to TNA. Aside from Homicide's match with Joe, his presence has been reduced to one or two pretty lousy promos and the Joe/Taz thing just has me left cold. Rather than working on trying to build that, TNA doesn't book Joe or Homicide to do anything this past week but Chrissy Hemme and Rhino are brought back. Like mysterio_fan said, TNA has a lot of weak filler and Impact had a good helping of it. If TNA is going to book a title match, for instance, then put some effort into promoting the match, the title and the participants instead of leaving them to dangle in the wind.

The Hernandez/Rob Terry match speaks for itself. This match will probably be little more than one huge, walking abortion that's just going to be awful. Rob Terry isn't nearly ready for this, the guy probably can't do an arm bar and he's booked to wrestle on a major wrestling ppv.

Sorry, I don't mean to rant and rave, but yeah, I agree with mysterio_fan overall, there's just some weak mid-card feuds going on featuring a lot of workers that I don't particularly care about, some title matches aren't promoted well and some of the matches that are promoted well are just really bad.

 

[Spaceman Spif]

Honestly the only way to increase their PPV buys is to increase the product saturation even more. WWE doesn't always put on better PPV's than TNA, however WWE PPVs get more buys because they are simply the more well known product. They have more history, more saturation. They are national powerhouse who is in every corner of the world pretty much. TNA's prominance is very minut compared to the WWE's. Not nearly as many people watch their show as watch the WWE's programs.

So if TNA wants to get more buys, they need to get more noticed. Start branching out, move more merchandise, more advertising, perhaps start moving Impact around, rather that just keeping it in one spot. If they get more time, start another show. They just need more national exposure. If they get that more exposure, then more people will watch their shows and buy the PPV's. Really that's all they need, because I've seen TNA PPV's that blew the WWE's out of the water and vice versa of course, it all comes down to exposure.

 

[GameOver]

In fairness i don't order the TNA PPV's anymore as IMO they are a waste of money. I did for the better part of a yr got both WWE and TNA PPV schedules but having multiple PPV's a month across WWE/TNA and TNA's being crap in general every single month there was only 1 choice for me in the end. WWE is safe and has been since 1985, not always decent PPV's but still it's no contest

So I disagree. WWE has always put on better PPV's, the individual segments/matches might not always be better but the overall product is head and shoulders above TNA and always will be.

TNA PPV's suffer from a few things that i percieve,

* they spend 3-4 weeks hyping up a few matches for the PPV and some of the matches/segments on impact leading up are good, then come PPV time the matches they are hyping are woeful. It's as if they don't care about the PPV's as they percieve the weekly show as the money maker ore they blew there loads during the preceding Impacts.

* X-Division matches that are pretty much the same each month, a fatal fourway constant spot fest.

* Silly PPV's theme's that are based entirely on one match type. Hardcore, Six Sides of Steel, Ladder Matches (It Only Happens Once a Year type deal)

* WWE does the same in those respects yes i admit that. for instance next months Breaking Point PPV will be entirely submission style matches and the ECW PPV is harcore rules for every match, so don't repeat is what i was getting to, do something different.

a match gimmick is useless if 6 matches in a row on the same night are contested under the same rules. You tire of it after the third match

* Swerves/Run-ins in most of the matches. That's one thing i hated about WWE the last 6yrs, the constant interference endings, DQ's etc. Thankfully they have changed this yr with more matches that are purely 1v1 or 2v2 with few run-ins.

There can still be cheating but less outside interference and swerves. TNA should do the same, make it about the wrestling not who can interrupt/make no contest matches the most

Thats a few things. sure others won't agree but meh!!!.

 

[psykohurricane]

HEre three thing i think TNA would have to do to increase buyrate.

1. Move Out of the Impact Zone: i know i cost a lot less to do there PPV in the Impact Zone but the fact of the matter is that everytime i watch a TNA PPV from the IMPACT zone it feel like i just paid 30$ to watch a 3 hour Impact. The atmosphere is always the same and i just feel like they are still a small promotions when in reality they are not anymore.

2.: Drop the whole WWE lite mentality: Another thing that doesn'T help that is copying stuff from the WWE and WCW. The attitude era is over and it will never come back all they are doing is redoing everything that was done more successfully 10 years ago. Having guys that became big star during that era doesn't help them either and like i said in point no. 1 being stuck in the IMPACT Zone while doing that make thing even worst. They look like and independant league. If you look at the rating for Impact, what the most over segments each week on the show. The knockouts and The originals so they want to call themselves Total Non-stop action wrestling, why not live up to the name instead of copying everything that was done 10 years ago.

3. For god sake Market your product: This is the most important point out of the 3. Nobody watch Impact because nobody know it's on, so if nobody know it'S on they're not going to know that there a TNA PPV coming up so they need to market their product a lot more that they're doing right now. Also IMPACT need to be watchable which nine times out of ten it isn't, which is a big problem right now. I don'T know what the bigger problem on the show, if it's the fact that they star storyline just to change there minds a couple of weeks later or the fact that they are so concern with promoting everybody that you ended not caring because it's becoming to complicated following every storylines. Here a simple solution that i understood in the many years i watch wrestling. Create a couple of big feud maybe 3 or 4, make the storyline easy to follow and everybody else just need to be filler. You don'T need a storyline for everybody on the roster, you can have just 2 guys hating each other and having a match to settle it, why give a reason for why they hate each other, same thing goes for the titles matches especially the second tier one, you don'T need a elaborate storyline to have a title matchs.

Som in my opinions, for TNA to increase PPV buyrate they need 3 things that they are not doing right now. Promotion, Make the PPV feel special by moivng out of the IMPACT Zone, and stop using old scripts from 10 years ago. If they do that, they probably have bigger buyrate because the new fans that didn't know that TNA existed will probably watch a PPV and see how great the TNA product is compare to the WWE but for now, they are just like The WWE but just smaller and new fans won't care about it.

 

[attila]

Everybody here forgets how it was done in the old days. Bottom line these wrestling companies have forgotten their purpose. In the old days the promotions didn't have a national platform where they would have weekly exposure and an opportunity to build their programs on TV. They had to be more creative in order to attract buys.

The problem is that ever since Nitro - all these promotions think they run a TV show and that's all they do. NO!!! These companies are in the business of selling fights and they can't remember how to do it. They don't need any more talent, they don't need any more high profile matches, they don't need to move out of the ImpactZone, they don't need anything more than what they already have. They just need to get back to basics and build their feuds better. They need to highlight their PPV fights and stop giving them away for free. Why would I pay to see Kurt vs. Sting when they just fought in the mainevent on Impact every fucking week leading up to the PPV. By this time I've already seen the fucking match 4 times. What makes number 5 so special that its gonna make me pay $30 or $40 to see it. Even more important what does the match mean by this point. I don't care who wins or loses because it doesn't prove anything. I already knows who's better - Sting just beat him 4 weeks in a row.

It's so simple and these stupid writers and self-proclaimed creative geniuses don't know shit about the wrestling business. Even more basically they don't know shit about promoting fights. It applies to all combat sports. Whether it be boxing, wrestling or MMA - you must know how to promote the fights.

Why is UFC absolutely fucking thumping the WWE in PPV buys with more PPV's per year than the WWE and with no television program. Because they know their business. They don't run a TV show (TNA makes the same money with a 0.5 rating as they do with an 8.9), they promote fights!!

Furthermore, it has nothing to do with TNA being a second class PW citizen or a simply smaller company. They are watched by 2 million people every week. Why are only 10,000 - 20,000 buying the PPVs?.. Because nobody gives a fuck who wins or loses. The matches are poorly promoted and the fights mean nothing. If they could get just 10% of their viewers to buy their PPVs they would be doing 200,000 buys. JUST TEN PERCENT!! But they are more interested in TV ratings then actually making money, so fuck them. Let the blind lead the blind.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

TNA's buyrates will never increase until their television ratings increase. You can't have one without the other.

I have said time and time again that TNA's biggest problem lies in the Advertising and Marketing Department as far as getting their name out to the public. I find it hard to believe given how long this company has been existence that they are still having this problem. In order to increase their buyrates, they absolutely MUST unconditionally make a much better effort at marketing their product and advertising their product.

If they do get a new show, I would make that their "A" show and do the show live either every week or every other week. Plus, I would take that show out of the Impact Zone and tour. Even if it is smaller buildings. But word is not going to travel around the country with TNA unless they get out of their Comfort ... I mean ... Impact Zone for TV.

 

[attila]

Disagree. They have enough people watching their show for right now to make a go of it. They can't sell their fights - that's their problem. Why spend big to start touring and to get TV ratings (not that ratings matter - keep in mind that ratings are not a reflection of the number of people actually watching) when they have the base that they need to be successful as a number 2 promotion. Its simple - they cannot get people to invest in their fights.

There is a reason Slammiversary 2009 did 7,000 buys and Lockdown 2008 did 55,000 buys with a smaller audience. They built it better. You have 2 million people watching and only 1-2% of them buying your PPVs. RAW in 94-95 had 2 million people watching and they were doing buys in the hundreds of thousands even then. Everyone thinks that you need to be doing current RAW numbers on TV to mean something. That's crap. TNA is a number two promotion and they should be comfortable with being just that for right now. They have enough people in their current audience to be sustainable as a number 2. They just need to get these people spending money.

Again I must point out - TNA does better ratings than anything UFC on TV. But UFC doesn't run a TV show like TNA likes to think they do. TNA throws everything they have into Impact. UFC runs a "promotion". Ergo TNA might have more people watching but when it comes time for them to spend on the product there is nothing compelling them to do so. Nobody watches UFC on TV, but Jesus H Christ do they spend on the product. The results are the following:

WWE Raw ave. 5 - 5.5 million viewers
WWE PPV ave. 300 thousand buys

TNA Impact ave. 1.8 - 2 million viewers (almost half of Raw mind you)
TNA PPV ave. 20 thousand buys

UFC Unl. ave. 700 thousand viewers
UFC PPV ave. 700 thousand buys

TNA simply needs to get better at converting their existing fans into PPV dollars. It costs them nothing except a better level of attention to the product. And the same can be said about the WWE.

 

[jackpeyton]

me issue with watching TNA PPV is this... Its like watching an episode of Impact.

They need to step it up.

 

[absent]

TNA don't need to run monthly PPVs, they're not in the Monday Night Wars. I reckon they'd make better overall money putting on 3 or 4 real blow out PPVs a year with much more drawn out build-ups, then that would also allow then to work better TV story lines and put on much much better TV matches in the interim. This could well increase TV rating and increase PPV profitability. I mean if the 7000 buyrate is true, they must have lost loads of money on the event. And if every TV show wasn't focused around building to a payoff in three weeks that most of the audience won't see, they'll retain more viewers week to week and surely keep the TV company more happy. I mean if I was a TV exec and a weekly show was focused as a build up to an event that I'd make no money off and wouldn't increase my rating, it would be the first on my chopping block.

 

[shafe_41]

I agree with Atilla. TNA has the fanbase to have a decent number of PPV buys each and every month. They should at least be up around the 80k mark. That would be a decent consistant number for an average PPV. At 30 bucks a pop, that's an extra 2.4 million dollars a month in revenue. Now I don't know how that money is divided up between the cable provider and TNA itself, but what company wouldn't enjoy another 2.4 million a month in revenue? Especially TNA.

Move #1... and the most obvious move- lower the price of a PPV. With them being $30, I would assume that TNA gets whatever money is leftover after the PPV provider or cable company or whoever takes their cut. I would assume since the price is somewhat high (but lower than the WWE) at $30, we will say the cable company and such gets $10 from each buy. However, if this isn't the case, lower the PPVs to $10 a piece. I know I would order every single one of them for that. You pay that when you go to the movies on a regular day. So we'll say 30k buys at $30, not even a million bucks. Would lowering the price of a PPV get TNA's buyrate over 100k? I think it would. From there, it would give them a little more income.

Move #2- ADVERTISE!!!!!!!! TNA doesn't advertise their PPVs for shit. I've seen WWE PPV advertisements on ESPN and on other stations not direction affiliated with WWE programming (aside from USA, WGN, MyNetTV, and Sci-Fi). Sure the same company owns all those stations I believe... NBC Universal... but they advertise their PPVs on other stations. You don't even hear about TNA unless you're watching SpikeTV.

And last but not least Move #3 and the most important for their future- establish some new friggin stars. We all know the entire MEM consists of members all 40+ with the exception of Joe. That is pathetic that your entire headlining storyline on your program, consists of guys all past their prime. This kills their buyrates. Who really wants to pay money to watch Scott Steiner, Booker T, and Kevin Nash? Cause I sure as shit don't. Angle is even a shadow of his former self but he's still the most consistant and goes out there every night and puts forth 1000%. He can't do this for much longer. The day will come when Kurt just hits a brick wall because that man has pretty much gone non-stop since his WWE debut whether it be wrestling, rehabbing injuries, or running around getting arrested. Now that last part doesn't really count, but Angle has been living pretty fast. I personally believe it would be a good thing for Angle to take some more creative control of TNA because I believe he'd be able to make the promotion more intense, and push the envelope a little bit more. With the envelope pushing... comes edgier promos, and with that, comes new characters that you can build from. Case and point... Stone Cold and The Rock. The Ringmaster and Rocky Miavia sucked. Give them the chance to be edgy and work the crowd... Boom. Two massive superstars. Who's to say the same can't work for TNA?