Metzer: Discovery's TNA experiment has failed and the honeymoon is over

[The Dragon Saga]

From this weeks Observer:

Morale hit a real low last week because a lot of people were late getting money. Those who have regular contracts are paid a monthly salary on the first of the month and as of late last week, when people talked and realized they weren't the only ones who hadn't gotten paid (and these were key people), it became a significant issue.

But there was talent that also had not been paid their money they were supposed to be sent on 3/1, so they were more than 30 days late. It was the same thing last year when the company taped so many One Night Only PPVs in Orlando, and that put the company way behind on expenses and it took a long time to get caught up on payroll. There were reports that this was because the payroll was moved from Nashville to Dallas, but that excuse doesn't hold up because the checks have been sent from Dallas for a long time. There are two types of talent, which are the contracted talent that gets a monthly guarantee on the first of the month, and those who get paid by the show, who were further behind.

At press time, his Taz's future was not clear, past the point the company was very apologetic to him beforehand about being late with money when asking him to come, and he was still with the company.

The honeymoon is very much over. The Discovery channel signed TNA as an experiment and I was told that the experiment turned out very bad when it comes to generating ad revenue (and you can watch the shows and see the ads) and they expected far more viewers. Impact is, by far, the highest rated show in the history of the station, which one would think would be a huge positive for the company's standing. I guess they were expecting a far larger percentage of the loyal Spike audience to come with them. Destination America right now is in 61.7% of the homes Spike was in, but they are doing (in February as compared to February one year ago) 30.2% of the viewership for the first run show and even throwing in the first replay, you're getting less than half.

TNA talent are now also allowed to work for iPPV's and for any promotion that does not have a TV deal, so basically any promotion that is not ROH, Lucha Underground or WWE.

TNA talents have been told that they are now free to work anywhere except on TV, meaning they are able to work on iPPV events for other promotions. TNA talents can't work for Ring of Honor because the two companies are rivals but many are looking to get dates with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla or EVOLVE.

I've been kind of out of the loop on all wrestling related issues especially since Mania, but I watched TNA three weeks back out of boredom and was actually pretty entertained. I think the show had a good flow and it seemed to be trying to be more of a wrestling show than WWE-lite with overly stupid skits and the like. I sadly don't have the time to consistently watch it and value other promotions like WWE, ROH, Lucha and NJPW over it (the two latter of which I am also inconsistently watching), but I hope they continue the way they're going as a product and turn Discovery's opinion of them around.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

HUH, Network getting involved and meddling with a wrestling company, that always ends well.


[YOUTUBE]?v=ZHcMK3a4Vj8[/YOUTUBE]

 

[klunderbunker]

"Hey guys! Don't worry about losing your money with our monthly shows! Now you can't work for any of the big companies that are on every week but you can work for these other places that work once a month just like us! You'll be getting two paychecks a month, just like normal people! Oh and remember to follow me on Twitter @TNADixie to find out when you might get to work again. If I get another 304 followers, I get a Longhorns cooler!"

So yeah, amazingly enough, after 10 years of stupid decisions, good to horrible programming and a year or so of Dixie Carter being the focus of the program, fans aren't too thrilled to tune into a low level cable channel on a Friday night at 9pm. I'm as shocked as you are.

 

[ABMorales787]

The stigma wrestling gets borders on the ridiculous. Lucha Underground is also in question because they spent too much money apparently for the first season. Lets also ignore that its El Rey's top show and much like TNA and DestAm, the channel became relevant because of wrestling.

 

[klunderbunker]

The stigma wrestling gets borders on the ridiculous. Lucha Underground is also in question because they spent too much money apparently for the first season. Lets also ignore that its El Rey's top show and much like TNA and DestAm, the channel became relevant because of wrestling.

Yeah but here's the thing, and I'm making these numbers up:

If a network can draw a .5 rating by investing $100,000 or a .35 rating by investing $1,000,000, they're going to take the first option every single time. These wrestling shows bring in ratings, but it's WAY easier to make some stupid ghost hunting reality show where you really just need a camera crew and microphones. Look at SpikeTV with Cops and their tattoo shows if you need proof.

 

[braveh]

when tna were in contract negotiations last fall, Meltzer could be heard describing over and over again how wrestling fans always follow wrestling shows when they move from one station to another.

because of this argument a lot of people were expecting better numbers, which is not a realistic scenarios because destination America is not in enough households.

here's the key point, des America didn't acquire impact to draw 1 million viewers from day one. they did it to be more high profile, to get the name out there, to get on more basic cable packages etc.

 

[ABMorales787]

Yeah but here's the thing, and I'm making these numbers up:

If a network can draw a .5 rating by investing $100,000 or a .35 rating by investing $1,000,000, they're going to take the first option every single time. These wrestling shows bring in ratings, but it's WAY easier to make some stupid ghost hunting reality show where you really just need a camera crew and microphones. Look at SpikeTV with Cops and their tattoo shows if you need proof.

Which brings me to the question "what the hell were they expecting?". WWE level exposure? They have the same problems.

 

[klunderbunker]

Which brings me to the question "what the hell were they expecting?". WWE level exposure? They have the same problems.

Probably whatever Dixie told them to expect.

 

[justinsayne]

The show has moved from Thursday nights to Wednesday nights, to Friday nights all within a year, & has switched networks from a network most everyone has to a network most people don't get, & the people that do get it don't know what fucking channel number it is. If TNA &/or DestAm are shocked or disappointed & the drop in ratings then they're fucking stupid

 

[The Dragon Saga]

If TNA &/or DestAm are shocked or disappointed & the drop in ratings then they're fucking stupid

History tells us that TNA at least are very much at the least, "fucking stupid", if not straight-up stupid.

I think going off something KB said, this is an area where ROH flourishes, because they run so cheaply yet over the past two years the production is always improving, consistently, but it's not getting out of hand. They also fill their house shows/live events but don't put a ton of funding into them. ROH's attendance this year is up 31%, which is a crazy number, albeit impressive.

 

[Nate DaMac]

If a network can draw a .5 rating by investing $100,000 or a .35 rating by investing $1,000,000, they're going to take the first option every single time.

Did you mean to say .05 or am I missing your point? Because .5 is a bigger number than .35.

 

[klunderbunker]

Did you mean to say .05 or am I missing your point? Because .5 is a bigger number than .35.

Something like that yeah.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Really surprised that DS didn't mention ROH more times. He is slipping.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Something like that yeah.

I thought that was your point. That they could get 10x0.35 for the same price of 1x0.5.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

History tells us that TNA at least are very much at the least, "fucking stupid", if not straight-up stupid.

I think going off something KB said, this is an area where ROH flourishes, because they run so cheaply yet over the past two years the production is always improving, consistently, but it's not getting out of hand. They also fill their house shows/live events but don't put a ton of funding into them. ROH's attendance this year is up 31%, which is a crazy number, albeit impressive.

 

[Chrome]

You mean independent contractors are allowed to work for more than one company at a time as long as its not a direct competitor?!?!?!?!? amazing!!

Wish WWE let folks do that, I bet the Indy circuit would pick up a bit if they all did this more often.

 

[Chrome]

This article is a complete contradiction to the announcement the network made last week

TNA Credited for Helping Destination America

Source
http://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-news/destination-america-captures-viewers-across-states/

Destination America announced via press release this week that they just recorded their best first quarter ever, thanks in part to TNA's Impact Wrestling. Destination ranked in the top 20 fastest growing cable networks for the quarter.

They wrote:

"Destination America has recorded its best first quarter ever among HH, P2+ and M25-54/18-49 Prime delivery for 1Q2015 and ranks in the top-20 fastest growing ad-supported cable networks among HH and P2+ delivery for the quarter. With the series premiere of Impact Wrestling and the return of the network’s hit Mountain Monsters, Destination America captured over 41.94M unique viewers over the course of the quarter."

 

[ABMorales787]

There's no contenting the viewership. And I don't know why Dragon's going on a tangent about attendance and production costs when this whole deal revolves around ad revenue. Something TNA has very little power over.

 

[Starkist]

There's no contenting the viewership. And I don't know why Dragon's going on a tangent about attendance and production costs when this whole deal revolves around ad revenue. Something TNA has very little power over.

It's Dragon Saga that's why.

I'm glad ROH is doing good and I'm glad other promotions are doing good as well. I'm a fan of wrestling and having different types of wrestling shows should be awesome for every fan.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

There's no contenting the viewership. And I don't know why Dragon's going on a tangent about attendance and production costs when this whole deal revolves around ad revenue. Something TNA has very little power over.

Yes, you do.

 

[Dirk]

This thread became fun

 

[Lowdown]

Even if TNA is helping Destination America, it could just be attracting fans of the channel itself. They knew going in that not everyone has access to this channel, and ratings would go down considerably compared to that of Spike's. Then add KB mentioned before, it's not helping that it comes on Fridays.

 

[Starkist]

It's in 50 million homes but It's only drawing around half a million viewers out of the one million it had before. It's crazy that the other 500K do not have DA which is in 50 million homes. That thought alone blows my mind.

 

[Alastor]

Lip sync battles > both TNA and ROH though.