WWE's Slipping PPV Buyrates: Lack Of Interest Or Internet Streams?

[Calderownz]

What do you think has caused the slippage of PPV buyrates?

On the one hand, WWE has become slightly more compelling. The Nexus angle, Cena and the ongoing storyline there. New stars slowly coming around. However, as all of this has happened, the numbers continue to trek downward.

Do you think that WWE has simply lost it's touch, or has the internet streams simply given fans too good of a deal?

I think it's the latter. As much as I have become more interested in WWE as of late, I haven't ordered a PPV in well over a year. However, I've not missed a single PPV.

What do you guys think?

 

[The Raven's Epitaph]

WWE are slipping on buy-rates? Hah, this is news to me.

Hmm, I suppose people aren't enjoying the product enough to buy? You state a good point though. Internet streams are around quite alot now and many people use illegal streams to watch their pay per views. I however, have purchased every pay per view this year along with it's DVD. I'm quite dedicated when it's come to pay per views.

Some of the PPV's haven't looked very buyable this year anyway. I mean, last year when Breaking Point was introduced, it had quite a good 1000+ less buy rates than Unforgiven which replaced it, so they axed Breaking Point. This could be the reason for the buy-rates being down this year aswell. WWE may actually be losing their touch.

Alot of new pay per views have been introduced this year such as Fatal Four Way and Over the Limit. Neither of these pay per views looked very interesting, but as I said, I'm dedicated, so I purchased them. Other people may not be as dedicated as I am so they may just avoid buying completely or use a stream.

People might have become bored of the superstars aswell, you never know.

Like I said, WWE slipping on buy-rates is news to me, so these are the only reasons I can think of.

 

[blackmetalbuick]

How is this news to anyone? Their buyrates have been abysmal, even for the bigger PPV events.

They've successfully cracked down on the more well-known streaming sites, steams will usually be removed under copyright violation, but you can always manage to find at least one or two functioning streams on PPV night.

I don't think streams account for the numbers though. I think many people make watching PPVs a social event, sitting in front of your PC with a grainy stream is just something to do if you're desperate to watch it. It's not the same as watching it on your TV with a few friends over. People aren't buying it because they don't care, not because internet streaming is truly a capable replacement.

I think buyrates are down because the product is bad. The older crowd isn't buying the PG thing, and while WWE might be succeeding with the younger audience, I'm not sure how many parents are going to fork out the money for a PPV every month for their kid.

I think most of us are tired of the same old matchups. Two, sometimes three PPVs in a row, you get matches between the same guys in the same feud. Take Night of Champions for example, you knew the Kane/Taker match wasn't really going to be the end of the feud, it was just a waste and we all knew they'd meet again at HIAC. Stuff like that really ruins my interest in any of it.

I think the prices are INSANE. Say they were $19.99, I would probably order every single one. But what are they these days, $39, $49? I can either read the results online, watch a stream, or wait 24 hours and figure out everything that happened in the first five minutes of RAW. If they would lower their prices I'm sure many more people would get in on the action. Make a whole lot of $20 sales, or hang onto dwindling sales at $50?

 

[DiscipleofWrestling]

I'm not going to pretend to speak for everyone else, but for me, it's a mix between three things: Oversaturation, Price, and Lack of Interest.

Oversaturation: There are simply too many PPVs in the current market, and the build to the PPVs has suffered as a result. WWE is currently in the process of finishing a six week period where they have had 3 PPV events. There's really no need to be hyped about any of these shows since they fall one on top of another. With more time given to one of them, it would have generated more buys domestically. I'll be interested to see if people triple dipped during this period or not.

Price: There's no way in hell I'm paying $45 for a 3 hour wrestling event. Especially with WWE's current DVD production rate of coming out with the DVD in a month's time after the event. So, I can waste $45 on a show I don't even know if it will deliver or not, or wait for the results and get the PPV for $15 at Wal-Mart if I want to see it. I haven't gotten a WWE PPV live since last year's Hell in a Cell. None of the events since then have made me want to press "buy" on my remote. Instead, I wait until the event comes out on DVD to decide whether I want to buy it or not.

Lack of Interest: WWE just doesn't interest me right now as it used to. I think it would be unfair to blame this entirely on the PG rating. The wrestling product just seems monotonous like WWE is going through the motions of being a wrestling company without any major program that makes me want to press buy. The Nexus storyline in particular doesn't interest me as other than Wade Barrett and Justin Gabriel, I view them as a bunch of one trick ponies or underdeveloped (or in Mr. Jennifer Hudson's case, talentless) talents.

WWE should look into cutting their prices down if they are going to continue having as many PPVs as they currently operate. If not, I would suggest cutting at least 4-5 PPV events which will allow the company to have more time to build quality programs for their PPV events. 8 PPV events, if placed in the right time, would allow WWE to maintain their PPV revenue while increasing the buys on their PPV events.

 

[triple_b2k]

With so many PPV's, its' difficult to keep the interest up. I think there are a number of things they can do to improve PPV buy rates:
1) Don't have the main even repeated on RAW or Smackdown. I've seen this a lot recently, instead of having a fued end at a PPV, they're extended onto Raw or Smackdown for a few more weeks. It's a huge rip off to see a match on PPV only to see a rematch the following night. Why would you pay to see the same thing the next day for free?
2) Stop having the same main events over and over again. I look at Kevin Nash's 1 year title run as a good example of how to keep things interesting. Over the course of a year he faced, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart and Yokozuna, The Undertaker, Sid, etc. They moved from fued to fued but with the PPV main events changing it kept things fresh. It wasn't the same title match OVER AND OVER again.
3) Keep pushing the younger talent. TNA is running with previous WWE wrestlers instead of building up their own guys. WWE needs to keep throwing new talent into the main event (like they've done with Sheamus, Wade Barrett and soon, The Miz).

Those are just a few ideas that could help PPV's improve in quality and interest.

 

[Version4]

I believe the lower buy rates are due to a combination of different factors.

First, the internet streams play a HUGE part in some of the lower buyrates. Yes, WWE is trying to crack down, but as streaming mods get more savvy, these streams are finding their way on to the net in more creative ways. Think about it.... why would i want to shell out $50 bucks for a PPV when i can watch an HD stream for free? i don't think it's a coincedence that as the mods become more experienced and the tech becomes better, that the buyrates get lower.

Speaking of the rates, that brings me to my next factor. As one of the posters already said, the cost of these PPV's is WAY too high. I remember the In Your House PPV's being way less expensive than the big 4... but now even the monthly PPV's are the same price as Wrestlemania. I would be spending $600 a year on PPV's if I got them each month. In this economy? It would be time to get comfortable in front of the PC and watch the action via stream.

The town next to mine has a huge viewing party for all WWE, TNA, and MMA PPV's. The crowd for SummerSlam there was about 85 people, and hear that HIAC had about 60 people there as well. They pay 2 dollars at the door for those events. The girl at the bar told me that it just makes sense now to pay $2 for a PPV than to pay $70! She was wrong on her math, but I digress... Now, imagine this happening worldwide. Viewing parties have always been around, but I hear about them more frequently now because... well, because the PPV's are too damn expensive!

The WWE PG rating seems to be everybody's "easy target". To be honest, a story does not have to be rated R to be compelling. If you use that as an excuse, then you are saying that the writers, bookers, and wrestlers aren't talented enough to entertain the public without being lude and unwatchable for children. If that is the case, then they need to be fired. End of story. The product is getting better slowly, but i think the waining interest in wrestling also played a factor in lower buy rates.

Lastly, there are just too many PPV"s for storylines to really develop and for people to purchase in a year. if they due 6-7 PPV's a year and maybe lowered the prices on the PPV's outside of the big 3, I think you would see increased buy rates and better product overall.

 

[The Shockmaster]

The simple answer is to many pay per views and high price tags. Especially right now with these 3 ppvs in six weeks nonsense. These 3 ppvs have/had virtually no build and half the card isn't even announced until the day of. I have to pay 45 dollars for a ppv that one of the three confirmed matches is a divas match...I don't think so. I also believe stupid ppv concepts that don't deliver also hinder upcoming ppv buyrates. While watching fatal four way and extreme rules i prayed that it would go over the time limit just to get my money back.

Each month I rather give a set 35 dollars to tna. All though they my lack production quality the matches are always solid and are worth the price I'm paying for. I think if the WWE cut back to 6 ppv's a year and sold them for around 40 dollars it would help buy rates tremendously. All the matches could have solid builds and the ppv match could be the end to the feud(maybe 2 ppvs but only for huge feuds). The price is reasonable and people wont have to pick and choose between 15 different ones deciding which one is best for the buck.

Streams are definitely popular these days. I love ordering tna ppvs but when i dont have the money I always have a trusty stream in my favorites bar. When it comes to wwe I always go to my friends house and we split it amongst 5 or 6 people. This is what i believe is hurting ppv buyrates the most. If your a wrestling fan you definitely know another wrestling fan and who wouldn't watch it together instead of buying it separately and paying full price.

 

[Genesis]

The reason for the buyrates going down is most importantly like everyone says the lack of interest, WWE are not delivering anything interesting as of now. Majority of the IWC will all just watch the PPV's or shows on the Net since some people don't have WWE programing in their local area or that it's too expensive, which hence leads to the streams and Wrestling torrent sites.

 

[dwith]

I think alot of the low buy rates for PPV is the pg rated shows.. WWE smackdown/raw continue to have alright ratings, because the show is free, and fan's are acustomed to watching raw or smackdown in their television weekly lineup.. I just don't think adults are willing to go out of their way to purchase a expensive PPV every month for something that isn't adult oriented for them to pay and is warranted for them to spend that kind of money. Would parents allow their child to purchase a nickoldeon ppv every month if they had one for the same price as the WWE ppv's i'm guess NO.. That's my opinion

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I put it down into predictability, you tend to know within a few outcomes that something is going to happen, last real suprise was nexus attack and since then anything has been par but not reallyu exciting because you tend to guess within a few outcomes what will happen.

Very few people called jeff hardy winning BFG title match whatever the circumstances were so that may be the niche that TNA holds to claw its way into the the mainstream to ignite the wars, unpredictability. As long as they can keep it up, not gonna be anytime soon though, will take more than just the odd shock to change the market. I think they did a good job keeping it close to their chest though, the whole they angle.

 

[llennellV3]

How is this news to anyone? Their buyrates have been abysmal, even for the bigger PPV events.

They've successfully cracked down on the more well-known streaming sites, steams will usually be removed under copyright violation, but you can always manage to find at least one or two functioning streams on PPV night.

I don't think streams account for the numbers though. I think many people make watching PPVs a social event, sitting in front of your PC with a grainy stream is just something to do if you're desperate to watch it. It's not the same as watching it on your TV with a few friends over. People aren't buying it because they don't care, not because internet streaming is truly a capable replacement.

I think buyrates are down because the product is bad. The older crowd isn't buying the PG thing, and while WWE might be succeeding with the younger audience, I'm not sure how many parents are going to fork out the money for a PPV every month for their kid.

I think most of us are tired of the same old matchups. Two, sometimes three PPVs in a row, you get matches between the same guys in the same feud. Take Night of Champions for example, you knew the Kane/Taker match wasn't really going to be the end of the feud, it was just a waste and we all knew they'd meet again at HIAC. Stuff like that really ruins my interest in any of it.

I think the prices are INSANE. Say they were $19.99, I would probably order every single one. But what are they these days, $39, $49? I can either read the results online, watch a stream, or wait 24 hours and figure out everything that happened in the first five minutes of RAW. If they would lower their prices I'm sure many more people would get in on the action. Make a whole lot of $20 sales, or hang onto dwindling sales at $50?

Very well said. I agree with this guy 110%.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

This is not a shock to me mostly because have you seen how much they charge for their PPVs these days? Combine that with what they put on their PPV's, it's just not worth it. Paying $40+ for PPV and then even more for Mania? It's not worth that price. But I agree that lack of interest can be a factor too and not going to list the reasons why for that but I think its a combination.

 

[Mr-excitement]

There are too many PPVs and for each one the announcers spend about three weeks building up the main event as the biggest match in history and then on Monday they go right back to the same crap for the next one.

The stories are not compelling - Cena joining Nexus? Cena has already single handedly whooped every one in Nexus. The cyber GM is just lame and I am so tired of invasion angles and Cena just doesn't deliver for me.

Really I would love to see the company take about three months to tell a story instead of hot shotting everything.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

What do you think has caused the slippage of PPV buyrates?

On the one hand, WWE has become slightly more compelling. The Nexus angle, Cena and the ongoing storyline there. New stars slowly coming around. However, as all of this has happened, the numbers continue to trek downward.

Do you think that WWE has simply lost it's touch, or has the internet streams simply given fans too good of a deal?

I think it's the latter. As much as I have become more interested in WWE as of late, I haven't ordered a PPV in well over a year. However, I've not missed a single PPV.

What do you guys think?

A lot of it probably has to do with two things:

1) There are to many PPVs now.

2) People don't have enough money anymore.

The economy is really bad, I know I barely make enough money to keep my family alive right now. It is a struggle to survive so there is no way I can reasonably afford to buy any PPVs at all. WWE and TNA both need to realize this and cut things back to maybe 4-6 PPVs at most a year and then do some Free TV specials of PPV level matches. That would bring a lot of interest back into wrestling from some people that have walked away.

 

[Slowdude]

Cost, Streams and Lack of Interest. Prices are ridiculous, who can hand out what $45 every 2-3 weeks for a 3 hour ppv these days. I'm sure not everyone can. Then you have online streaming. I've seen tens of thousands of people watching a single stream at times. Its a big problem for the WWE. Of course then we have lack of interest which just works into cost and streams as if people aren't interested anymore they will still probably watch the ppv but it will be by streaming online.

 

[frankdegregs]

To the guy that said people don't want to watch a grainy internet feed on the computer, couldn't be more wrong. First of all, most TV's that are made now, have an VGA input which allows you to hook your PC up to it and use it as a monitor, and 2nd, feeds come in pretty clearly, and at a ROI of $45, it's clearly the way to go. And it doesn't make you less dedicated by not ordering it. Not everyone can afford to pay $45 bucks a month on top of an already pricey cable bill.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

I'm not going to pretend to speak for everyone else, but for me, it's a mix between three things: Oversaturation, Price, and Lack of Interest.

Oversaturation: There are simply too many PPVs in the current market, and the build to the PPVs has suffered as a result. WWE is currently in the process of finishing a six week period where they have had 3 PPV events. There's really no need to be hyped about any of these shows since they fall one on top of another. With more time given to one of them, it would have generated more buys domestically. I'll be interested to see if people triple dipped during this period or not.

Price: There's no way in hell I'm paying $45 for a 3 hour wrestling event. Especially with WWE's current DVD production rate of coming out with the DVD in a month's time after the event. So, I can waste $45 on a show I don't even know if it will deliver or not, or wait for the results and get the PPV for $15 at Wal-Mart if I want to see it. I haven't gotten a WWE PPV live since last year's Hell in a Cell. None of the events since then have made me want to press "buy" on my remote. Instead, I wait until the event comes out on DVD to decide whether I want to buy it or not.

Lack of Interest: WWE just doesn't interest me right now as it used to. I think it would be unfair to blame this entirely on the PG rating. The wrestling product just seems monotonous like WWE is going through the motions of being a wrestling company without any major program that makes me want to press buy. The Nexus storyline in particular doesn't interest me as other than Wade Barrett and Justin Gabriel, I view them as a bunch of one trick ponies or underdeveloped (or in Mr. Jennifer Hudson's case, talentless) talents.

WWE should look into cutting their prices down if they are going to continue having as many PPVs as they currently operate. If not, I would suggest cutting at least 4-5 PPV events which will allow the company to have more time to build quality programs for their PPV events. 8 PPV events, if placed in the right time, would allow WWE to maintain their PPV revenue while increasing the buys on their PPV events.

This pretty much sums up on all points here, but a couple of things weren't mentioned.

Just because the PPV buys might be down, doesn't necessarily mean that viewership is decreasing. Yes, there is only so much you can do with the statistics they can work with, but we all know that people have started to throw PPV parties at their houses where multiple people chip in to pay whatever the amount is and watch the event together. With how the economy has been over the past couple of years, it's a much cheaper option for people and allows for social interaction/discussion. There is also the lifestyle where people use their computers more than they go outside, and having access to internet streams is their most comfortable option. However, there are some people who can't afford the money to watch, so they use illegal streams to watch the PPV. Bad, I know, but you can't stop the internet being the internet.

So with Disciple's post and lifestyle choices, that's probably the reason why PPV buyrates are down. Most of the time it's us screwing the WWE, but sometimes it's WWE not offering us enough incentive to buy the PPV in the first place.

 

[EtherBoo]

There is a great article by Lance Storm on his website (http://stormwrestling.com) that really gives some great insight to this.

In a nutshell, PPVs used to be 4 times a year, and the matches were built up over a long period of time, so an epic match was used to close the story. Seeing the match was important because it likely wouldn't happen again anytime soon.

Now the PPV are used to progress a story. An epic match determines the next chapter of the story. The thing is, we can skip the ending of the chapter, and find out what happened storywise and not miss much. There is no reason to watch the match.

 

[Thesage1989]

Yea man steams are the bomb i love the business but for the last couple years i watched Wrestlemania on the pc and for me why buy a PPV when i can watch it and see a repeat where the stream doesn't stick for only the inter bill i pay monthly. I am sure other people around the world have that same mentality.

 

[WHATWHATWHAT]

I agree with the lack of interest and the price being a key reason. But the NFL also plays a part on Sundays just as much as it does on Mondays. Football is what people want to watch. Also, paying the amount that you do for a PPV is not as much an option as it was before. When you buy something it is because you want it or you need it and in some way it serves a purpose. I would much rather complain about a Raw episode in which you don't pay for, than to feel like you did not get your money's worth on a PPV. Also, the PG rating is not the cause for the decline. Wrestlers no longer bleeding does not change your mind about watching the show. Stone Cold was a bleeder, and when he fought Kane for the title in a First Blood match where Kane would like himself on fire if he lost. I knew Stone Cold would lose, but I spent money on it because I was a fan of his and also because it was entertaining. And you know what the next night he got his rematch and won the belt back. Some people might have felt like they wasted money for no reason then also. But were you entertained for 3 hours? Yes. If you complain about Raw and think it sucks and you're not paying a dime, you can not possibly expect the PPV to be better simply because you paid for it. Raw is not as good as it use to be and everyone on here has found a reason why it has not been that good. But you get what you pay for and if the build up sucks on free tv then so will the PPV.

 

[Nada]

I love nothing more than paying for PPVs, there is nothing on TV, nothing in terms of "entertainement" other than maybe watching the event live than watching some huge fight, or pro wrestling bout that i want to see.
That feeling will be there if Pac and Mayweather ever get in the ring

Back to wrestling in 2010, for me it is a lack of interest, i dont get that "big feud" feeling that i once did, PPVs do not feel epic to me today.

I hate to bring UFC, but the UFC headlined with Anderson Silva vs that other guy, cant remember was one of the best PPVs i have seen, all the fights were insanely entertaining and after the whole event i felt drained, like every muscle in my body was massaged, i was totally blown away, and i had trouble sleeping becuase i was so excited about it all.

That is how i used to feel about WWF PPVs but these days, really i mean nothing is going to "change", i wont miss anything if i dont watch it.

I would not buy them if they were 9.99$, honest to god i rather spend 10 dollars on some Xbox Live Arcade game than a WWE PPV.

 

[TheTheDude]

I generally catch all of my WWE PPV's at my local Bdubs, but it has been a long time since I have gone to one. This year I've only gone to the Rumble and WM. The number one reason why is lack of interest. Heck, for most of the fall/winter pay per views I would watch the sunday night NFL game and only pay attention to the PPV for one or two matches. That said, pricing really doesn't matter to me. for the 30 bucks I would have spent on the ppv alone, at least im getting food, drink, and atmosphere

I do not think that internet streams cut into buyrates nearly as much as lack of interest and oversaturation. I remember in the old days we would have weeks and weeks of promotion and build up for survivor series. The teams would feud in various match forms until the big day. Now for Bragging Rights we have what? seemingly random people thrown into matches to represent their respective brands in one week? When was the last Survivor Series team that actually had a story behind who was in it and why they joined up? This year we had that with Team WWE vs Nexus, which happened months before Survivor Series would have been slated to occur.

People who want to steal ppvs have always stolen ppvs, its just now all you need is a computer instead of a black box.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Personally I don't think the streams have anything whatsoever to do with declining PPV buyrates. I'm really not too familiar with internet streams, I have never used one of them, I either purchase the PPV myself (usually), go somewhere to watch it, or don't purchase it at all (like I wish I had decided to do regarding BFG). But aren't streams available for WWE, but also TNA, UFC, or even boxing? I stand to be corrected on this, but wouldn't buyrates be down for everything if streams were the issue?

It's simple why buyrates are down. Too many PPV's and too much money for them. It's as simple as that. 09/19: Night of Champions; 10/03 Hell In A Cell; 10/10 Bound For Glory (if you were dumb enough to purchase it as I was this ONE time); 10/24 Bragging Rights. Four PPV's in six weeks, at 40-50 bucks a pop. That's a lot of money for a lot of guys, and when the product is less than ideal sometimes, is spoiled directly or indirectly by the IWC, and when some companies alienate their fanbase by deceiving them with false promises which they do not even attempt to live up to, it's not hard to understand why PPV buyrates are down.

I don't know what the answer is. WWE aren't going to reduce their number of PPV's or the prices they charge for them any time soon. TNA will attempt in vain to follow suit. UFC isn't going anywhere. Where is it going to give, I'm not sure. But in my opinion, even if somehow allstreams could be eradicated from existence, I still think buyrates would be suffering anyway.

 

[1ofThePeeps]

It's $45 a month to order every WWE ppv. It'd tack on an extra 50% to my cable bill. Are you kidding me? Right now if I can't find a stream - I just don't watch the PPV. If the option to stream is available, please believe I'm streaming.

Cut the price of PPV's in half and I'd consider it. If HIAC was $20 - $25, I would have bought it. I enjoyed the storyline's and matches building up to it - but I'm not shelling out $50 to watch a PPV I could watch for free on my PC.

The answer isn't to crack down on streamers, the answer is to make your PPV's affordable, so that it isn't worth the hassle to find a stream. I wouldn't think twice about spending $20-$25 on a monthly PPV. You could even get away with $50 for Wrestlemania, and maybe even Summerslam. But $45 for Extreme Rules? Kiss my ass.

 

[Y2JChrisJericho]

Lack of interest
The Product is awful now (Yes, PG has A LOT to do with this, kids aren't paying 45 bucks, it's teens and adults)
Lack Of Money (The Economy is awful now a days)

Obviously the WWE has to make profit, but the prices are way to high, and especially considering you can watch it online. As a kid, I would go to the theaters and watch the PPV's with my friends, now as a teen and I'm more of a smark, I just stream it.