I think this would be a good time, in light of the report about WWE having one of its lowest rating weeks (both Raw and SmackDown) in months or years. Seems troubling considering it was fresh off WWE's second biggest PPV of the year, SummerSlam.
I may focus a lot of WWE in this thread but it is also open for discussion about other wrestling programs such as Lucha Underground, TNA, ROH and GFW and how they fit into the great, big category that is "Entertainment."
Here is my take on the situation:
First, let me talk about TV ratings. I think there are a lot of factors that go into the TV ratings situation for WWE. Honestly, WWE was smart to launch the WWE Network as an online streaming network since it is pretty much the wave of the future. I hear Global Force Wrestling and maybe Lucha Underground are trying to get onto Netflix and, again, it's smart because network and cable television is a harsh game for most shows.
Real sports still survive because they are real sports and if you like them, you like them and new fans happen all the time as kids grow up or a friend turns a friend onto it and it usually stays for their whole life. No WONDER NFL gets good ratings because you have all the fans who were fans since they were 8 who are 88 now and everyone in between. Most fans of NFL whenever they start being fans they will continue to be fans until they can literally no longer watch. How many lifelong fans are there of WWE who are in their 80s? Probably not nearly as much as real sports like NFL and MLB. WWE can easily turn off fans. Lots of fans are fans at a young age but once they get to high school or into their 20s they find WWE silly and even if they are people who will go in droves to see a comic book movie like Iron Man or Avengers, they still see WWE as silly and corny and have been turned off.
As for other shows on TV with high ratings like Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, etc. Well, the thing is about these shows is that they have a limited run. Sure, the highly rated ones will go on for 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 seasons, which is very good for a TV show, but that's pretty much it! AND ask anyone, if they were fans of a show that ran about 8 seasons they will tell you all about "it was a lot better in the first few seasons."
Internet/info age has, I believe, forever changed how pro wrestling/sports entertainment will be viewed. It will be like any other niche genre or show. Hell's Kitchen and cooking shows have their niche audience, home renovation or home buying shows have their niche audience, kids cartoons have their niche audience, cartoons for more adult crowds (like Family Guy, Simpsons, etc.) have their niche audience, live-action Superhero shows have their niche audience and so on. Some of these fans do overlap and some of these shows will experience a spike in popularity but overall still stay a niche and never become something that is widely accepted and of interest to a majority of people.
Sorry, WWE, you aren't getting back to 10.0 ratings and beating Monday Night Football in viewership. You have to find your own way and your own happiness with the type of fans you will have. If you change too much you will lose your hardcore fans, which you desperately need.
For WWE, I think they could change a few things. Raw is too long. 3 hours is too long for sports entertainment in this day and age. Too many commercials and too long of talking segments take even the most hardcore fans out of the mood and too eager to flip the channel to something else.
SmackDown, let's face it, is the B show and will always be the B show and it will go up and down in ratings throughout the year. Is there a rhyme or a reason for the highs and lows of this pre-taped B WWE show? I honestly don't even know. This week had the Dudley's advertised and more on that new Wyatt member and I actually thought that sounded like a good SmackDown to tune into. I actually didn't get to see it because I was doing something else and you know what? Maybe that's just what happened to others. They wouldn't have minded to tune into SmackDown but just didn't so ratings weren't great.
But WWE's YouTube channel regularly gets over 100,000 views on many of its match highlights and other videos and I'm sure gets watched a fair bit in replays online but that doesn't help the TV stations but it does show a certain interest in the product, just in a different way these days.
I criticize WWE a lot but they are actually still doing a lot of things right. They have a pretty successful online WWE Network that one day may include the only way to watch Raw and SmackDown and they have pretty solid Live event and Raw and SmackDown show attendance. Nothing quite like the Attitude Era but that's really not coming back. They are doing consistent numbers for years, though. Their merchandise is still being sold well, it seems and apparently they get revenue from those crappy WWE films still. Lol.
The thing about WWE is that they try to have something for everyone and in today's world where DVR'ing something or watching it later online is so easy, and watching it live is tougher because of how many commercials there are they are basically making it hard on their fans to watch their show live.
So the questions to you are:
What do you think pro wrestling/sports entertainment's place is in entertainment now and going forward?
I may focus a lot of WWE in this thread but it is also open for discussion about other wrestling programs such as Lucha Underground, TNA, ROH and GFW and how they fit into the great, big category that is "Entertainment."
Here is my take on the situation:
First, let me talk about TV ratings. I think there are a lot of factors that go into the TV ratings situation for WWE. Honestly, WWE was smart to launch the WWE Network as an online streaming network since it is pretty much the wave of the future. I hear Global Force Wrestling and maybe Lucha Underground are trying to get onto Netflix and, again, it's smart because network and cable television is a harsh game for most shows.
Real sports still survive because they are real sports and if you like them, you like them and new fans happen all the time as kids grow up or a friend turns a friend onto it and it usually stays for their whole life. No WONDER NFL gets good ratings because you have all the fans who were fans since they were 8 who are 88 now and everyone in between. Most fans of NFL whenever they start being fans they will continue to be fans until they can literally no longer watch. How many lifelong fans are there of WWE who are in their 80s? Probably not nearly as much as real sports like NFL and MLB. WWE can easily turn off fans. Lots of fans are fans at a young age but once they get to high school or into their 20s they find WWE silly and even if they are people who will go in droves to see a comic book movie like Iron Man or Avengers, they still see WWE as silly and corny and have been turned off.
As for other shows on TV with high ratings like Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, etc. Well, the thing is about these shows is that they have a limited run. Sure, the highly rated ones will go on for 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 seasons, which is very good for a TV show, but that's pretty much it! AND ask anyone, if they were fans of a show that ran about 8 seasons they will tell you all about "it was a lot better in the first few seasons."
Internet/info age has, I believe, forever changed how pro wrestling/sports entertainment will be viewed. It will be like any other niche genre or show. Hell's Kitchen and cooking shows have their niche audience, home renovation or home buying shows have their niche audience, kids cartoons have their niche audience, cartoons for more adult crowds (like Family Guy, Simpsons, etc.) have their niche audience, live-action Superhero shows have their niche audience and so on. Some of these fans do overlap and some of these shows will experience a spike in popularity but overall still stay a niche and never become something that is widely accepted and of interest to a majority of people.
Sorry, WWE, you aren't getting back to 10.0 ratings and beating Monday Night Football in viewership. You have to find your own way and your own happiness with the type of fans you will have. If you change too much you will lose your hardcore fans, which you desperately need.
For WWE, I think they could change a few things. Raw is too long. 3 hours is too long for sports entertainment in this day and age. Too many commercials and too long of talking segments take even the most hardcore fans out of the mood and too eager to flip the channel to something else.
SmackDown, let's face it, is the B show and will always be the B show and it will go up and down in ratings throughout the year. Is there a rhyme or a reason for the highs and lows of this pre-taped B WWE show? I honestly don't even know. This week had the Dudley's advertised and more on that new Wyatt member and I actually thought that sounded like a good SmackDown to tune into. I actually didn't get to see it because I was doing something else and you know what? Maybe that's just what happened to others. They wouldn't have minded to tune into SmackDown but just didn't so ratings weren't great.
But WWE's YouTube channel regularly gets over 100,000 views on many of its match highlights and other videos and I'm sure gets watched a fair bit in replays online but that doesn't help the TV stations but it does show a certain interest in the product, just in a different way these days.
I criticize WWE a lot but they are actually still doing a lot of things right. They have a pretty successful online WWE Network that one day may include the only way to watch Raw and SmackDown and they have pretty solid Live event and Raw and SmackDown show attendance. Nothing quite like the Attitude Era but that's really not coming back. They are doing consistent numbers for years, though. Their merchandise is still being sold well, it seems and apparently they get revenue from those crappy WWE films still. Lol.
The thing about WWE is that they try to have something for everyone and in today's world where DVR'ing something or watching it later online is so easy, and watching it live is tougher because of how many commercials there are they are basically making it hard on their fans to watch their show live.
So the questions to you are:
What do you think pro wrestling/sports entertainment's place is in entertainment now and going forward?