• Light/Dark
  • 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.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

WWE and AEW weekly ratings discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
Rivenblade

Rivenblade

Member
Nov 1, 2017
37,132
The Culture Vulture said:
You guys underestimate how many people hate watch WWE. A viewer is a viewer. I've DVR'd RAW and Smackdown the last couple of years. Watched them the next day in about a half an hour of fast forwarding mostly because I liked listening to the POST Wrestling reviews and wanted to be part of the "conversation". With the move to Fox, AEW and just the general embarrassment of RAW last week was a good time to completely ignore the product so I'm completely off even the hate train I'll be back to being blissfully ignorant of whatever that company is doing but there's still a ton of people who can't help but looking at a car wreck.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I mostly go the podcast route to keep up with stuff, but am thinking it might be better to just cut out WWE talk altogether in my life except for whatever pops up in this channel. That said, I enjoy listening to Post Wrestling, Going in Raw, and Fightful talk about all of this stuff. Keller too sometimes.
 
Violence Jack

Violence Jack

Drive-in Mutant
Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,937
Rivenblade said:
Holy shit, Smackdown down around ONE MILLION viewers.

2.898 million total viewers yesterday.

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


I just watched the WhatCulture Ups and Downs about SD, and it'll fall even more next week. Who the hell thought reading names off a list would make for a compelling draft? Plus, if Seth stays on Raw, then Wyatt isn't getting a title anytime soon, and will just appear as a supremely over gimmick to randomly attack wrestlers.
 
RBH

RBH

Official ERA expert on Third Party Football
Member
Nov 2, 2017
32,982
Rivenblade said:
Holy shit, Smackdown down around ONE MILLION viewers.

2.898 million total viewers yesterday.

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

giphy.gif
 
Ithil

Ithil

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,397
That super Fox deal they have banked on isn't some ironclad thing, if the ratings are crap enough Fox can and will cancel Smackdown.
 

John Doe

Avenger
Jan 24, 2018
3,443
I have a quick question.

Why is is that ratings "don't matter" when the numbers are dropping but when the ratings are high, it's a sign that the product is good?

Either ratings don't matter at all or they matter. This isn't directed at anyone in here, just a general question surrounding the rating debate since I've heard the former part of my question phrased as a statement countless times.
 
Sinatar

Sinatar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,684
For reference the final rating for UFC on fox (that took 5 years to drop to) that got them dropped by the network was 1,983,000.
 
shintoki

shintoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,156
I think the 18 thru 49 mind share is going to be bigger going forward, as long as that pulls well for Smackdown, it should be good since that is typically terrible on Fridays. Through being under 3mil is worrying. That would make Fox the least watched 8pm programming.
 
Buckle

Buckle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
41,191
They were expecting ratings in mid three millions and its already had a drop of a million viewers putting it below that.

Goddamn.
 
TheManWithoutFear

TheManWithoutFear

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,469
Ithil said:
That super Fox deal they have banked on isn't some ironclad thing, if the ratings are crap enough Fox can and will cancel Smackdown.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

They probably would just move it to FS1 rather than cancel but still...I hope the ratings continue to dive as long as they keep putting out a boring product with matches we've literally seen at least a half a dozen times like Corbin/Gable and Charlotte/Bayley
 

Mr.Awesome

Banned
Nov 4, 2017
3,077
Mahonay said:
🤔
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
No idea where the 3 mill+ number came from. Heres Fox Sports exec this week.

"I don't want to put a specific number to it, we know that was a extraordinary debut last Friday and the show will now have to settle at a cruising altitude. Without putting a precise number to it, we have an opportunity to be maybe double what we have been doing on FOX on Friday nights which was 1.2 mil"

That said, losing 25% of your audience week 2 isnt good
 
Knight613

Knight613

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,833
San Francisco
I would kind of think Raw ratings will be tanking after Monday too since they're trying to move their "big" stars to Smackdown and all Raw has aside from Becky Lynch are jobbers that couldn't beat the Reigns and Strowmans in the WWE. Or Randy Orton.
 
Liquidsnake

Liquidsnake

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,989
I didn't watch SD, but I did watch a recap video, and I lost interest after 10 min, I can only imagine how horrible the actual show was. It seems putrid. When WWE can't relay in the Rick to bail them out week to week, I expect the rating to continue to plummet. It's a horrible product.

Good thing they have Eric Bischoff there to roam the halls and do nothing.
 
Indelible

Indelible

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,731
Canada
Not surprised the ratings dropped big for Smackdown, what a terrible show and the draft felt like a joke. WWE deserves bad ratings for this half-assed product
 
Rivenblade

Rivenblade

Member
Nov 1, 2017
37,132
Proteus said:
Not surprising at all. I expected that drop. I'm sure FOX knew it was coming too. I'm not sure they will be happy about it though but I bet the expectation going forward is that it hovers around 3mil.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Don't draft shows usually do better than regular episodes of Raw and SD? I'm genuinely asking as I haven't watched WWE regularly in a while.
 
Forkball

Forkball

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,941
Imagine you notice that wrestling was on Fox while surfing, flipped over to it, and you're greeted with an image of a man walking out under the name of "Shorty Gable."
 
GatsGatsby

GatsGatsby

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,282
West Columbia, SC
Smackdown was going to drop regardless same with Raw. They've been hyping this "reset" for sometime even the people who dont always watch tuned into last weeks episodes to see if anything was actually going to change especially with the arrivial of AEW on TNT. Nothing changed nothing will change on those main rosters. Vince gets most of his money from tv contracts,ads and SA now attendance and other forms dont matter to him. I can see it hurting the talent though since I'm assuming they may get a small percentage from ticket sales like they do with their merch.
 
Mahonay

Mahonay

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,321
Pencils Vania
Proteus said:
Not surprising at all. I expected that drop. I'm sure FOX knew it was coming too. I'm not sure they will be happy about it though but I bet the expectation going forward is that it hovers around 3mil.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Next week it's definitely having another decent drop. I'm guessing somewhere between 2.3 and 2.5.

It was a boring ass show, and not the spectacle they put on for their first show. Average person was just exposed to what level of product you can expect from WWE in 2019. Most are going to want to spend their Friday nights otherwise. Not exactly must-see-TV.

I will be very surprised if they hold close to 3 million next week. Unless they pull in legends again and hire every retired UFC fighter available.
 
Anth0ny

Anth0ny

Member
Oct 25, 2017
47,126
Oh how I have waited for this day

They predicted a new boom period 😂

3 million viewers every week 😂

Already below that number week 2 AND it was a hyped up draft show 😂😂

Won't be long til that number is hovering around 2 million flat
 
whytemyke

whytemyke

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
3,789
I mean the ratings are bad but I don't think Fox went into this thinking they were going to go crazy. I remember reading at the time that Fox wanted that 18-35 demo and live sports was their way to get it. WWE was the cheapest way they could get that.

I say all this to point out that this won't be an embarrassment for Fox. If they're drawing a 1.2 and 1.1 of that is 18-35 or whatever, they'll live. But it's huge egg on the face of Vince and represents continual, relative failure to stabilize a product he's seemingly been wanting to resuscitate for over a year now.
 
Rad Bandolar

Rad Bandolar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,036
SoCal
Rivenblade said:
I mostly go the podcast route to keep up with stuff, but am thinking it might be better to just cut out WWE talk altogether in my life except for whatever pops up in this channel. That said, I enjoy listening to Post Wrestling, Going in Raw, and Fightful talk about all of this stuff. Keller too sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I usually just read Brandon Stroud's recaps, which are the quickest way for me to see what happened on the WWE shows without devoting much time to it. He's been doing weekly recaps of the Monday Night era for the last couple of years, which are great reads as well.
 
Mahonay

Mahonay

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,321
Pencils Vania
whytemyke said:
I mean the ratings are bad but I don't think Fox went into this thinking they were going to go crazy. I remember reading at the time that Fox wanted that 18-35 demo and live sports was their way to get it. WWE was the cheapest way they could get that.

I say all this to point out that this won't be an embarrassment for Fox. If they're drawing a 1.2 and 1.1 of that is 18-35 or whatever, they'll live. But it's huge egg on the face of Vince and represents continual, relative failure to stabilize a product he's seemingly been wanting to resuscitate for over a year now.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
They are giving WWE over a billion dollars for Smackdown over 5 years. There's no fucking way they are just sitting back "this is fine" after a million viewer drop in 1 week.

Those in charge of making this deal worth it are probably having heart palpitations today.
 
Carnby

Carnby

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,246
Anth0ny said:
Oh how I have waited for this day

They predicted a new boom period 😂

3 million viewers every week 😂

Already below that number week 2 AND it was a hyped up draft show 😂😂

Won't be long til that number is hovering around 2 million flat
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Lol. I almost forgot about that boom period bullshit. It ain't happening.
 
Malajax

Malajax

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,121
John Doe said:
I have a quick question.

Why is is that ratings "don't matter" when the numbers are dropping but when the ratings are high, it's a sign that the product is good?

Either ratings don't matter at all or they matter. This isn't directed at anyone in here, just a general question surrounding the rating debate since I've heard the former part of my question phrased as a statement countless times.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

For WWE ratings didn't matter so much because they make their money elsewhere. They're such a huge machine of merchandise, name recognition, house shows, Saudi Arabia, and the network. Too big to fail.

It matters more now since Fox is backing this super hard. If this fails this will hurt wwe more than most other ventures long term.
 
TheManWithoutFear

TheManWithoutFear

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,469
Rad Bandolar said:
I usually just read Brandon Stroud's recaps, which are the quickest way for me to see what happened on the WWE shows without devoting much time to it. He's been doing weekly recaps of the Monday Night era for the last couple of years, which are great reads as well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Stroud is a great writer and I think he does an amazing job being critical of the product without just going into straight "Fuck WWE" mode. Good balance.
 
Anth0ny

Anth0ny

Member
Oct 25, 2017
47,126
Malajax said:
For WWE ratings didn't matter so much because they make their money elsewhere. They're such a huge machine of merchandise, name recognition, house shows, Saudi Arabia, and the network. Too big to fail.

It matters more now since Fox is backing this super hard. If this fails this will hurt wwe more than most other ventures long term.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

All of those metrics you mentioned are way down. By far their biggest money maker is TV deal money, which means ratings is by far the most important thing when it comes to their success.

Saudi Blood money would be #2
 
Welfare

Welfare

Prophet of Truth - You’re my Numberwall
Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,917
Oh my god, Raw and Smackdown might still end up being close to each other after all. Smackdown will be down to ~2.5M at the end of the month.
 
Buckle

Buckle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
41,191
Anth0ny said:
Oh how I have waited for this day

They predicted a new boom period 😂

3 million viewers every week 😂

Already below that number week 2 AND it was a hyped up draft show 😂😂

Won't be long til that number is hovering around 2 million flat
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Turns out moving to a bigger network doesn't mean much when your show still sucks.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.