Total Divas Crossover Audience

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Total Divas is a pretty popular show, and it doesn't get enough credit for it's success. Any time wrestling becomes relevant in terms of modern popular culture I think it's a good thing, and Total Divas is a show that has brought the wrestling industry to an audience that probably wouldn't otherwie be exposed to it or take any sort of interest in it. The E! Network is in the business of pop culture, and this is the network airing Total Divas, a show about wrestling. Whether you like it or not, the Kardashias are a staple of pop culture today, and Total Divas started out as a lead-in to that show before branching out to a different night after achieving some excellent numbers. Reality TV is a draw, and Total Divas is a very good reality TV show. When you compare it to other reality shows out there this becomes especially true, as the show actually highlights the work ethic of these women and the demands of being a WWE performer. It legitimizes wrestling quite a bit, particularly in the eyes of a casual viewer.

Unsurprisingly, the show is largely dismissed by people on this site, probably because this is a site for die hard wrestling fans, and it's a show that isn't specifically aimed at those kinds of fans. But do you guys still appreciate what Total Divas has accomplished? Do you think it's a positive for the wrestling industry and the WWE to have a show like this out there, or does it expose the business a bit too much?

Personally, I've enjoyed Total Divas because it's a show that I can watch with my girlfriend and she can actually get into. She watches the E! Network anyways, and is a fan of reality TV, and many of her friends are the same way. I'm a wretling fan and so the show overlaps our interests and is something we can watch together. Despite her interest in Total Divas however, she still isn't going to ever watch Monday Night Raw or take an interest in WrestleMania. She's a fan of Total Diavs, but that doesn't translate into becoming a fan of the WWE, largely because it's really a different genre of entertainment. I think that's true of Total Divas in general. The audience watching E! and the audience watching Raw are largely two distinct and separate groups, and there's not a lot of crossover between them. That being said I do know a few people that started out watching Divas just because it was a hot new reality show, and from there have actually taken a bit of a interest in the wrestling genre, so I'm curious what you guys think about this.

Is there a significant protion of the Total Divas audience that is interested in watching actual wrestling, or are the audiences largely two different groups without much chance of crossover? Do you think there is a way to capitalize on the popularity of Total Divas and create new WWE fans? How could this be accomplished, if at all?

 

[Hyorinmaru]

I don't see the demographic that watches Total Divas (or any E! reality show) being interested in any actual pro wrestling program.

Raw & Smackdown are geared towards children with men thrown in. While I've never seen it I'm guessing Total Divas is geared more towards women and people who love anything pop culture.

Are there a few that check it out of seeing Paige or the Bellas in a backstage segment shot for T.D.? Possibly but I doubt they would stay when they realize the people who they watch on E! aren't on Raw or Smackdown lately.

 

[Azane]

I would be somewhat interested to see how a Lady's Night (maybe monthly?) card would do that focused on Total Divas style storytelling and allowed some of the lesser used female talent some air time.

I think it would get killed if it was weekly, perhaps just a wrestling focused version of Total Divas that was episodic in nature. This would be the real crossover to wrestling, and people invested in the characters on Total Divas, could see the actual wrestling going on, beyond clip shows, and they might get interested and watch the weekly wrestling afterwards.

Then the other obvious way to attempt to cross fans over, is to try and do weekly wrestling on E!, but USA seems to have WWE by the balls there.

I watched some Total Divas early episodes to get a feel for the show, and the scripted nature of it ruins the whole reality facade they put on ("I'm going to go out of my way to sabotage this entire company by doing x y z", Camera crew filming person doesn't do anything, and the next week, nothings ever said about the crap Eva Marie said on National TV through TDs). I can still enjoy it because I do believe, that the show is about the people more than the characters, even though it's scripted poorly (And Eva can't act worth a damn). But people who are watching a 'reality' show based around wrestlers, have to be the swaying audience that you can bring to actual wrestling.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I think Total Divas is next to NXT for the best show WWE produces, seriously. It's hilarious (sometimes intentional, sometimes not), and because of the varied episode themes is WAY more interesting and less repetitive than Raw as a whole. Beyond that, it also gives a personality to people who rarely ever get to show it on TV (Nattie, Tyson, Alicia, etc.) I've even found the show has helped win me over on certain people I didn't like before.

It also gives you a peek behind the curtain (literally) as you get to see the wrestler's houses, backstage, catering, the performance center, etc.

Like the OP said, I don't know that the show is really bringing an audience to watch wrestling, as I specifically know someone who got hooked on Divas, but has never actually watched a single WWE wrestling show, but that's okay. Ultimately it's still resulting in exposure for the WWE brand and bringing in ratings and ad revenue.

 

[Messiah]

Total Divas in worthless.. I'm betting they won't be around for another season, ratings are continuing to decline, it's getting boring every season.. It's time to give up on that show and do something else.. Most of us don't give a crap what happens behind the curtain, that shouldn't be our business. We want to see what happens in the ring.

 

[OYDK]

I assume Total Diva's would draw a small percentage of it's fanbase to Raw or Smackdown, a very minuscule percentage, but a percentage nonetheless. I'm guessing that the main demo that watches TD are women, mainly teenagers and younger girls. Now in the case of teenagers or young adults, WWE would be lucky to draw about 5% of that audience to a wrestling event if that's not necessarily their thing, simply because these women already know what they enjoy and what they don't. It's not like Raw is similar in any way to Total Diva's other than the main characters.

However, in the case of younger girls, Total Divas has the opportunity to create lifelong fans through the showcasing of their women this way. The best way to get little girls involved in the product is to create "idols" or role models out of the women on your roster, and there's no better way to push that perception than through reality TV. Whereas a 17 year old girl would look at these Divas as funny, likable, pretty, etc. a 7 year old may view them as heroes and follow them to the kiddy-friendly WWE which may in turn, earn WWE a new life-long fan.

In regards to the show, it's been one of the few gems that WWE has been able to produce, although I think E! has a lot to do with the format of the show nowadays. Really, it was just another way to expand into different areas of pop culture and it happened to work. I don't think the show was necessarily ever supposed to draw new fans to the product, that may just be an added bonus.

EDIT: In other news, Messiah completely misses the point of a thread again. Will the madness ever end!

 

[Navi]

Total Divas in worthless.. I'm betting they won't be around for another season, ratings are continuing to decline, it's getting boring every season.. It's time to give up on that show and do something else.. Most of us don't give a crap what happens behind the curtain, that shouldn't be our business. We want to see what happens in the ring.

That's not the point of this thread though, the point is will it bring in viewers to the WWE? That's what the OP is asking. And what kind of show would you rather see them do if Total Diva's is worthless?

I have watched a few episodes of Total Diva's and quite honestly they don't really show that much wrestling. I know a lot of wrestling fans, and none of them watch TD, as a matter of fact no one I know watches Total Diva's.

The reality show genre has sort of been done to death now, and people tune out of it. Besides TD isn't really a reality show, it's sort of scripted to an extent so I don't know what category it falls into. The episodes I watched all seemed to certain around the Bella Twins, Naomi and her husband. It was kind of boring.

Haven't watched the new episodes with Paige and the girl from Tough Enough, but if the ratings are anything to go by, it's not even as good as it was. So I doubt it's bringing a ton of viewers to RAW and SD.

 

[BaconBits]

My wife digs Total Divas. She doesn't care for wrestling. At. All. I don't think there is a significant crossover audience, or even potential for one. TD isn't a wrestling program, and it doesn't really cater to a wrestling audience. If they wanted crossover, the reality show that could actually pull viewers into the product if put on a regular network is Breaking Ground.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Total Divas doesn't add anything to WWE, it only detracts. It's an insult to the industry. I have female friends who watch Total Divas, but they don't watch WWE programming and have zero interest in doing so, they ONLY care about Total Divas.

 

[Garak]

Look at it this way. Does Hockey Wives increase NHL viewership, or get a lot of viewers who watch the NHL? The demographics are pretty different. Of course, you can find at least some crossover examples no matter how diverse two shows might be, but some things are a stretch. Enough wrestling fans watch Raw and miss Smackdown. That should be WWE's priority, not trying to get Raw fans to watch Total Divas.

 

[ShinChan]

I don't think that Total Divas helps building audience for Raw. It maybe vice-versa in exceptional cases. Like I love Paige, So I would like to watch her and may tune in to Total Divas for it. So its just exceptional to happen.

By the way, WWE is wasting a talented wrestler Paige for the sake of Total Divas which I think is very bad. Paige is in the league of Sasha, Becky, Bayley etc in terms of talent unlike the other members of Total Divas. I hope Paige leaves this show and reignite her career as an Anti-Diva.

​

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

The purpose of that show isn't to draw viewers to RAW. It's a stand-alone project that was a no-brainer because reality tv shows get good ratings and they are cheap to produce.

They are counting on crossover in the opposite direction. They want to get as many RAW viewers to also watch Total Divas.

That's much more reasonable than hoping that non-wrestling fans who get caught up in Total Divas will become regular viewers of RAW.

 

[SHAGAMANIA 3:16]

Maybe a Divas wrestling show full of Total Divas drama could work.