-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Fox reaches agreement to air WWE's 'SmackDown Live' (Update: 5 Years, 1 Billion Dollars)
- Thread starter SeanM
- Start date
So something like $450 Million a year now, from $160 Million
The PG is more of a Hasbro (toy deal) thing than a TV thing- that won't be changing
They are, but the reversal is still startling. FOX is going to WWE after trying the UFC. They are giving them a billion dollars for 5 years. Not many would have predicted this change.
Guess we all better get used to the Big Dog Era.
Now, does Smackdown become Raw 2.0, or will it continue feeling somewhat different/better paced than Raw? I tend to prefer Smackdown, especially with their tag division and stars like AJ, Bryan, and Nakamura feeling like top tier talents. I hope that they dont kill the roster split for this
Now, does Smackdown become Raw 2.0, or will it continue feeling somewhat different/better paced than Raw? I tend to prefer Smackdown, especially with their tag division and stars like AJ, Bryan, and Nakamura feeling like top tier talents. I hope that they dont kill the roster split for this
WWE gets more numbers consistently, though the ceiling for UFC is higher. They just didn't hit it enough
With these numbers, the brand split has to stay in place so each side can see unique value and individual starpower. And I think the numbers for Raw and SD being pretty similar overall means they'll treat both shows with similar importance.
As for content changes? Who knows. We know USA over the years has influenced Raw, so maybe Fox will influence SD.
Plus SD will always be two hours now.
#5YEARS
#ONEBILLION
LOL.
Holy fuck what an overpay.
Smackdown is the B show and it's a Billion dollar show.
What a world.
#ONEBILLION
LOL.
Holy fuck what an overpay.
Smackdown is the B show and it's a Billion dollar show.
What a world.
So, a billion dollars for a shitty scripted reality TV show.
What kind of ratings does WWE do? I feel like I don't know a single person in real life who watches it.
What kind of ratings does WWE do? I feel like I don't know a single person in real life who watches it.
Depends, but like 3-3.5 mil for Smackdown every week. RAW does a bit more because it's the flagship. Smackdown is the B show
Her house is now a billion dollar house
It's pretty much either the first or second rated program on cable for Raw most Monday's. Smackdown is usually third or fourth for Tuesday's.
Raw usually does 2.8-3 million viewers per week
Smackdown usually does 2.3-2.7 million per week
Going to Fox should bring that Smackdown number up though, especially if it remains live
Must be a bubble online where everyone says wwe is shit, but they can pull in this massive tv deal just for one show.
Don't confuse comicbook movies with comics. 20 years ago the top 5 books were doing 500k-million a piece books sold a month. Nowadays you are lucky if the top 5 are doing 500k combined. Sales have gotten better, but no where near what they use to be
200 mill a year for SMACKDOWN???
loooooooooooooooool, fox got taken to the cleaners
Fridays were known as the death slot for TV shows, especially on Fox, in the early 2000s IIRC. I don't know if it holds up today.
On a mainstream broadcast network you will take fridays. I bet its live if they're paying a Billion for it.
And Pyro is totally back.
Why would you pay 1 billion dollars and then promptly put the show in the Friday death slot?
Vince is probably happy WWE is going to be on regular broadcast TV, though.
They actually loaded up Smackdown recently, obviously to help sell it.
Vince is probably happy WWE is going to be on regular broadcast TV, though.
They actually loaded up Smackdown recently, obviously to help sell it.
I was mad at first when I saw singing promo and I thought you were disrespecting Rusev Day...then I remembered the video where all the "superstars" sang.
$1 billion?!
Get ready for the return of seagull pops and for Roman to Reign over Friday nights.
Get ready for the return of seagull pops and for Roman to Reign over Friday nights.
Because the idea is that WWE (and Smackdown) has a dedicated audience that will do better on Friday's than anything else Fox could put there and will be way more consistent in terms of keeping viewers
It basically makes Friday's a non-issue for Fox going forward. Like they know they'll easily get decent numbers from that slot every week now.
Everyone's getting mediocre ratings now. Thats why relatively high live ones are prized.
Given these deals probably make ppvs less of a lure for the network, I'd think wwe want to keep NXT network-only to keep the subscriber count up, as at the end of the day it's their fall-back position.
Meltzer said this last week
They're fucking set yall. Get ready for Roman's mega-long SDL title reign rofl. Get ready for the SHAKE UP OF ALL SHAKE UPS.
Shield Boyz Running Wild.
Now they're getting $200 million a year for 5 years...
They're fucking set yall. Get ready for Roman's mega-long SDL title reign rofl. Get ready for the SHAKE UP OF ALL SHAKE UPS.
Shield Boyz Running Wild.
Depends on the show,
CBS sent Hawaii 5-0 there to die after they barely renewed it after 3 seasons, 5 seasons later its doing incredibly well. 8-9 million viewers an episode still 8 seasons in on Friday nights.
Shark Tank was doing so well on Friday ABC promoted it to Sundays.
