Bruce Springsteen
Member
TNA with Russo writing is doing the same viewers as Smackdown, around 2 million, RAW at 2.6 million is nearly there
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WWE Raw Ratings: Viewership Hits Record Low
- Thread starter DMczaf
- Start date
MisterR
Member
This is true, but TV ratings have declined so much in general since that time. About the time wrestling was drawing these kinds of ratings ER was the top rated show on TV and over 30 million people watched it a week. The top show on TV now is about half of that.
http://rajah.com/node/56509
"-- Tuesday's Smackdown Live was up slightly in the viewership numbers, generating an average audience of 2.350 million compared to 2.328 million last week. "
As far as I know, they're legitimately brainwashed into thinking ratings mean nothing, everyone is down so these numbers are fine, it's the NBA playoffs/football season/*insert excuse here* so it's fine, we have people watching on youtube and have huge social media numbers so it's fine...
They're completely ignorant. Their programming certainly doesn't tell me that they care, at least.
ONE POINT SEVEN 5
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
H O L Y S H I T
Honestly I think they've been panicking behind the scenes already.
Tom Nook
Member
YIKES!
When do they tell the writing department?
2010 TNA here we come. And you know why? Because watching WWE programming right now is:
You mean Vince?
Tom Nook
Member
TNA during their Spike TV days was doing 0.9-1.1 ratings. They're getting close to TNA numbers.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
As bad as RAW was, Smackdown was worse
No, it wasn't.
Man, imagine if TNA was run by a competent owner all these years?
Rockandrollclown
lookwhatyou'vedone
I really can't find any motivation to watch the weekly shows at this point. Honestly 2 PPVs a month is getting to be asking a bit much. Especially Raw. What is supposed to be the draw there? Hardys without their gimmick thats actually entertaining? Isn't Braun hurt too?
Dental Plan
Member
Did he say which episode of Nitro it was? I would like to check it out.
Biggest-Geek-Ever
Member
ElRenoRaven
Member
ONE POINT SEVEN 5
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
Holyshit. Can't wait for the 1.0s that are headed their way if they keep this up. For the first time in over 20 years I didn't bother watching Raw or Smackdown this week. I don't feel sorry for that either. I simply just did not feel like it. From the write ups of it I didn't miss jack shit either. Just more of the same shit I've seen 100 times.
Something else people should consider is this week's raw had a PROMOTED main event of Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins.
Those are their two biggest/hardest pushed babyfaces on Raw, if not the entire company. Basically the equivalent of John Cena vs. Randy Orton.
And it did a HORRIBLE third hour. What does that say about your biggest babyface stars at the moment? I struggle to think of a bigger matchup between two full time WWE wrestlers at the moment. Maybe AJ vs. Reigns? Orton vs. Reigns?
Those are their two biggest/hardest pushed babyfaces on Raw, if not the entire company. Basically the equivalent of John Cena vs. Randy Orton.
And it did a HORRIBLE third hour. What does that say about your biggest babyface stars at the moment? I struggle to think of a bigger matchup between two full time WWE wrestlers at the moment. Maybe AJ vs. Reigns? Orton vs. Reigns?
You missed the Alexa Bliss segment then...
The Dolph Ziggler Michael Jackson promo on Nakamura and the Alexa segment are currently tied for the worst segments of the year so far.
Since the 'Superstar Shake-up', Raw and SD have been equally bad which means Raw loses by default because it's an hour longer.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
WWe needs to youtube full matches. Raw is just too much goddamn talking.
Reigns vs Rollins was a great match, but the slog to get to it was unbearable.
It goes to show nobody is a draw in WWE. WWE itself is the draw, and you just sink or swim along with it's waves.
Man, the WWE really needs competition to get it's ass into gear.
edit: also there's just too much damn wrestling to watch. 3 hours is insane. We know Vince hates it, but at this point the super long show is killing them.
davidwhangchoi
Member
damn that segment was bad.
Host Samurai
Member
I doubt they're panicking that much if their revenue is up. WWE has become a merchandise and licensing business over the years.
Basileus777
Member
Their revenue won't stay up if interest in their product is waning. Their TV deals will need to be renegotiated eventually too.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Meltz also is starting to take seriously the idea that Raw might not get renewed by USA (if their program head changes, the current one is a friend of Vince's so unlikely).
It's really getting to the point where it may not be logical for USA from a purely financial point of view.
Yep, it was the 11th of december '00 show.
No, the Bliss/Bailey segment is one of the worst segments in the history of wwf. It takes the whole show down with it.
Without tv, their ability to sell merch and licensing goes way down.
It's really getting to the point where it may not be logical for USA from a purely financial point of view.
Yep, it was the 11th of december '00 show.
No, the Bliss/Bailey segment is one of the worst segments in the history of wwf. It takes the whole show down with it.
Without tv, their ability to sell merch and licensing goes way down.
The Main Event
Member
Raw back on Spike here we go.
Network TV is still their major source of income, so that wouldn't be viable. They'd most likely have to take a smaller deal on some other network.
Whatever new tv deal they make in the future better not be one where you gotta wait too long for a RAW episode to get on the wwe network. At worst it needs to be on the network immediately after it airs.
Basileus777
Member
They have to find another network to take them. Likely with a much smaller deal.
With Raw ratings in the toilet why would a network give the WWE something to make live Raw even less attractive?
Raging Spaniard
If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
I wonder how many people just watch the stream online.
Basileus777
Member
The scenario would probably be USA not wanting to renew at the price the WWE wants, leading to the WWE shopping itself around. WWE's programming is far less valuable than when they signed their last batch of TV contracts.
there's no way this is going to happen
WWE would ask for money that doesn't reflect the audience they bring in.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
They're dropping very fast - 20% YoY, so that may not even be the case in 2019 - and the advertising money USA get from raw is far less then they get for the lower rated shows because the Raw audience is generally poorer.
What choice would a network have? Cord cutting is only going to be a bigger thing in the future. If anything networks would start needing Vince a lot more than he would need them. I would assume he would eventually have all the bargaining chips.
Besides I'm not saying it should be live. But the way it is now with the long ass wait is unacceptable.
Reddit Squared Circle runs their own stream for every live WWE event and there are regularly several thousand viewers. These are the people who would be considered the hardcore of WWE fans
Ninja Scooter
Member
Imagine if WWE was.
Jmanunknown
Member
The length of Raw is a problem because it is such a time sink in my opinion but its not the main problem. The booking is the main problem and will continue to be the main problem until they decide to make an interesting product again. You can advertise Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns as the Raw main event but if you do not give people a reason to watch the match why should they. WWE did the same match on June 20th 2016 for a chance at the WWE championship which was at that time held by Dean Ambrose. The same match in 2017 was a meaningless throwaway match that had no stakes to it whatsoever and those two guys are two of the top face wrestlers in the company.
Also isolating the cruiser-weights away from the rest of the rosters is dumb especially when both Finn Balor and Kalisto are still wrestling the rest of the roster. They should use those guys to fill out the mid card and tag team divsions and it would also provide the rosters of Raw and Smackdown with new matchups instead of having the same matchups constantly each week.
Also isolating the cruiser-weights away from the rest of the rosters is dumb especially when both Finn Balor and Kalisto are still wrestling the rest of the roster. They should use those guys to fill out the mid card and tag team divsions and it would also provide the rosters of Raw and Smackdown with new matchups instead of having the same matchups constantly each week.
HazySaiyan
Banned
I love the whole "well they're making more money than ever so who cares" argument, neglecting that a huge chunk of that is money from USA. What are WWE gonna do in a couple of years when they renegotiate their contract? The Network isn't doing as well as they'd hoped either, they're fucked if they don't change course.
Hidden One
Member
The Maharaja keepin the SD ratings 
Basileus777
Member
That was the argument behind the last WWE deal, that live entertainment was supposed to become even more valuable. It didn't work out as we see with awful trend of viewership. The network would have an easy choice, to refuse to give the WWE that option in any deal because who else is WWE going to get that from in a deal in a price range they want? Vince doesn't have all the bargaining chips when his programming is tanking and no longer worth the deal it was signed for.
The WWE absolutely needs their programming on TV, their whole business is built around it.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
literally NOTHING happened on Smackdown that moved the story forward, it was a 2 hour snore fest
Violence Jack
Member
So 1.3-1.5 average when the NFL starts back up?
There is absolutely no reason to watch Raw anymore. LU and SD produces better content in one and two hours than Raw can do with 3. Hell, what's been the last "oh shit" Raw moment that got people's attention? HHH screwing Rollins and awarding KO the belt?
There is absolutely no reason to watch Raw anymore. LU and SD produces better content in one and two hours than Raw can do with 3. Hell, what's been the last "oh shit" Raw moment that got people's attention? HHH screwing Rollins and awarding KO the belt?
Steverulez
Member
I mean, Raw is run like shit, I think Smackdown is run much better but they've kinda screwed it after the superstar swap, how the fuck can they give the main belt to Brock then have him not appear for what, 6 weeks? Its ridiculous.
They keep doing stupid things with the IC/US titles too, getting Ambrose/KO involved in the main belt matches etc, its simply a waste
At least the Hardy Boyz are back
They keep doing stupid things with the IC/US titles too, getting Ambrose/KO involved in the main belt matches etc, its simply a waste
At least the Hardy Boyz are back