Should WWE & TNA offer iPPVs?

[Trill Co$by]

With the growing rate of iPPVs, there have been numerous of independent wrestling and even MMA promotions to broadcast their fights on various sites. Most of them take their time to partner up with GoFightLive and stream their PPVs that way. And from what I can tell, it's really a nice way to get some viewers that you wouldn't normally obtain.

And with that thought in mind, should bigger promotions like WWE or TNA offer iPPV as an option for some of their PPV events? Generally, the overhead fees that WWE and TNA would have to pay would be cut by a few extra and much needed dollars so they could lower the prices for the viewers who choose to watch on the internet.

This would also open up more ways for fans to obtain pay per views at a more affordable price. I mean I'd rather pay a 15 USD price for TNA's Lockdown and watch it on the internet than pay 40 USD price for a second rate PPV. Look, TNA's good and their PPVs are sometimes well put together but at the same time... they're not 40 bucks worth.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I don't see WWE moving to iPPV's anytime soon. They are able to generate enough interest among their fanbase to keep making a large amount of money off of their monthly PPV events. This is where most of their profit comes from and unless that changes I doubt that they would be quick to change the format of their events. If they offered the iPPV's alongside the tv PPV's for the same price, their fans would be more likely to keep purchasing the televised PPV's. Then if they offered the iPPV's for cheaper then they run the risk of losing money and we know WWE would never take that risk. They are better off keeping their current format for PPV's for now.

Now, TNA on the other hand, I can see moving to an iPPV format. They struggle to get fans to buy their PPV events each month. Bound For Glory is meant to be their Wrestlemania, yet even it and Lockdown, their two biggest shows, don't get buyrates that even touch those of WWE. The iPPV format would appeal more to TNA's fanbase. If they had pay a smaller fee than the televised PPV price to watch it online, then they have a shot at making a better profit. I know that for me as a fan, I would pay to see a TNA PPV online if the price was cheaper. Their televised PPV's feel like a waste of money other than Bound For Glory and Lockdown lately. WWE still manage to convince me to purchase a good number of their shows, and I know I'm not alone with that opinion.

 

[Rayne]

I bet they'd love to. The problem is, they are almost certainly excluded from doing so by their contracts with PPV providers.

Think about it from a consumer perspective. You can pay $19.99 to watch something online, or $39.99 to watch it on cable. That's a no-brainer. I get the decision every month to pay $7 at a bar to watch a UFC PPV, or $40-$50 to watch it at home. I haven't watched a UFC at home yet.

Now, think about it from the terms of a cable company. If fans are given that choice, duh, they'll take it almost every time. The sane, logical decision would be to require companies that wish to broadcast through your network to give you exclusivity. The furthest stretch I could see would be allowing an iPPV at the same price as regular PPV, thus keeping iPPVs from undercutting traditional PPV.

It might make sense for TNA/IW to go to an iPPV format. Their PPV buyrates are so anemic as to rarely be reported, so they wouldn't have a large amount of initial pain to do it. Their problem is that they want to appear to be big-time, and big-time doesn't do internet PPV. When we finally see Mayweather-Pacquio, it ain't going to happen online.

The WWE generates many more PPV buys, even edging around a million buys for WrestleMania. They'd require a massive disgorgement from the PPV networks, and I can't see how they'd make any more money from the internet.