Jason Frost
Member
Anyone has a chart or something listing every rating from 2015?
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WWE Raw drops to lowest TV rating in 18 years
- Thread starter RBH
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You don't think they know what people are using the Network for? They get piles and piles of data on what people watch, and it speaks louder if you as a fan are watching anything but the current PPVs. If you just cancel your sub all you are is a one time # of someone that left the service for any # of reasons. You could have left because you can't afford $9.99 each month anymore. Seriously, you're only hurting yourself and there is much more to it than the main roster programming.
If the people looking at the data are that ignorant, they are just as likely to think "Oh, great, this person is watching the weekly shows live and buying the PPV on TV instead of watching on the computer!"
PROh1bited
Banned
How am I possibly hurting myself? I save $14 CDN a month now. I won't be missing anything.
Sure, if you don't mind waiting a day for live specials.
Not even a day. They go up in the middle of the night. I usually watch NXT first thing on Thursday mornings and then I get to watch Arrow and South Park live on Wednesdays.
Serpens007
Member
I've been one of those fans that sticks watching even when it's horrible, but this week's episode I just coulnd't keep watching. Incredibly boring. Just booted Netflix and watched Gotham instead.
Which Raw has had the worst rating? I felt this week's was the worst of the year, and that was no easy task.
Which Raw has had the worst rating? I felt this week's was the worst of the year, and that was no easy task.
yanipheonu
Member
I honestly don't know how wrestling and anime haven't had a bigger intersection recently. Seems like a match made in heaven.
Evening Musuko
Black Korea
This could actually work for NJPW.
A lot of Anime fans don't care that much about the language barrier since they're used to hearing stuff in Japanese, and due to how many subbing and translating groups there are these days, if you can get a couple of those into watching NJPW, you'll get more people watching due to more frequent translations.
Plus, that popularity could expand to other promotions like Dragon Gate, DDT, NOAH, etc, which means more Puroresu stuff in English.
Now granted, there won't be a huge Puroresu boom like there was for Anime a few years ago, but it could show those companies that there's a dedicated English speaking market that's willing to watch, and spend money on their product.
You had me until you talked about anime fans being willing to spend money.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Sure, if you're talking about the Bleach and Naruto fans. But at least they get released from their torment with an eventual end.
WWE fans watching out of momentum from their love of it in their kid/teen years may be trapped watching it for their entire lives.
Evening Musuko
Black Korea
You mean Anime fans don't want to spend money on kakkoii Baretto Kurabu T-Shirts?
SallyIsNow
Banned
hydragonwarrior
Member
They should do a temporary alliance with Capcom so more of their fighters can use special moves like Rolling attack, Sumo head butt, etc.
MickeyPhree
Member
I cancelled my sub in September but have been keeping up with the product through various news sites. I'm not coming back anytime soon.
BoboBrazil
Member
Almost time for Cena to return when Monday Night Football ends so he can pull a Hogan and take credit for the ratings increase.
God damn it, I hate how right you are.
To be fair if all they want to give us in place of Cena and Rollins is Sheamus and Roman, Cena will be welcomed back with open arms.
I'm going to Mania this year and I can't say I'm excited about it. I feel like this is the time of year that things should start taking shape, but at this point I don't know what to really look forward to.
Well, Dan Ryckert watches it after all.
dream
Member
This is a strange sentiment to me. Could we not say that paying to watch pro wrestling when one doesn't have to is perhaps the peak of self-destructiveness?
BoboBrazil
Member
Yeah doesn't seem like the card will be too hot, but I guess they will start bringing back the old timers to fill it up in January around the Rumble. Any idea where to get tickets for the HOF ceremony and Axxess or the Raw the night after? I am just seeing tickets for Mania online.
Nerdkiller
Membeur
So in the end, this makes this week's RAW rating a 2.15. Is this the lowest thus far?
BoboBrazil
Member
It's awesome. Bad ratings, lower advertising revenue, lower house show revenue are the only thing that will force change in the product. It needs to keep sliding.
Lowest since March 3 1997, which did a 1.9.
here's hoping they dip below a 2 before cena/rumble hype/football ends
I absolutely agree, I just had no idea they were sliding this much.
BoboBrazil
Member
The bad news is they will rebound after football ends, but hopefully they don't bounce back to where they were at before football started. As long as they lost a few hundred thousand viewers every football season that don't return, it's a great thing.
mariachi507
Member
Wow.
I dropped the product after Wrestlemania this year, mainly because of what went down at the Rumble and the PPV in-between. Aside from seeing a match or two since then I've actually stuck to my guns. That being said, it's crazy seeing what's happening to the ratings. It's going to be fucking bonkers if it goes < 2.0.
I dropped the product after Wrestlemania this year, mainly because of what went down at the Rumble and the PPV in-between. Aside from seeing a match or two since then I've actually stuck to my guns. That being said, it's crazy seeing what's happening to the ratings. It's going to be fucking bonkers if it goes < 2.0.
Dick Justice
Banned
All according to plan. Eventually, only the people cheering for Reigns will be left, and finally Vince will be happy.
He'll win the Rumble...oh wait, there's that Taker/Cena thing floating around.
Keyser Soze
Member
This was a section of the crowd from right before the main event on Monday.
http://imgur.com/z3g0Vrs
http://imgur.com/z3g0Vrs
BoboBrazil
Member
Well deserved. Vince and WWE basically did a big fuck you to everyone starting at the Rumble this year. Absolutely no respect for fans.
Lost Fragment
Obsessed with 4chan
What happened on Labor day?
Yep. Real fucking bad. We're officially in the midst of New Generation Era 2.0. Complete withThis was a section of the crowd from right before the main event on Monday.
http://imgur.com/z3g0Vrs
a face being pushed hard by WWE that fans are not buying, but were into before Vince McMahon got his hands on them (Nash then, Reigns now).
Vince is not the only issue. Stephanie's style of running things is just as bad in many ways as well.
JesseEwiak
Member
Actually, only one of these is true. House show numbers are stagnant, according to everything I've read (yes, they're down compared to Summerslam time, but they always are. Comparing year to year is far more important).
But, they've actually added advertisers and more importantly, they're more premium advertisers. Kay Jeweler's and Toys 'R' Us is sponsoring TLC. Coca Freakin' Cola is sponsoring The Slammy's.
And as much as you may like the Attitude Era, what Vince likely remembers a lot from it is having to be sponsored by fly by night supplement companies, and now the world's most recognized brand is in business with Vincent Kennedy McMahon.
So, yes, they need to turn around the ratings. But, the actual WWE machine is running fine when it comes to the business end.
UberTag
Member
Why should they respect us? We're not their target audience. Corporate America is the WWE's target audience. The show is for them and for Vince. We're just an unavoidable nuisance.
funkystudent
Member
The reports of people just straight up leaving during the final parts of RAW is probably the most damming part of this downturn so far.
I am sure Vine has a excuse for it though. Maybe those thousand people wanted to beat the traffic.
I am sure Vine has a excuse for it though. Maybe those thousand people wanted to beat the traffic.
megamerican
Member
Those classy sponsors are just as likely to bail from a sinking ratings ship as they were from the controversial content.
And really it isn't even like they made the show any classier, or garnered any mainstream interest, they just made it horrifically bland.
It's running fine because:
1. They're not seeing a financial effect from their ratings tank until the next time their TV deal is up, provided there is no clause that can have the deal blown up once ratings drop below a certain number, which is unlikely so yeah.
2. Current house shows went on sale half a year or more ago, so many tickets were bought before interest starting dropping. But once people stop watching WWE, you can guarantee there will be a resulting drop in house show numbers around June or July, provided they can't increase their viewing numbers to old levels (other than the regular increase post Football-season).
3. And Survivor Series was sponsored by an Antacid medication. Pretending WWE has a wealth of advertisers lining up is just not very realistic. Maybe Coca-Cola is sponsoring The Slammy's, but if they're doing that, that means PepsiCo is probably no longer loading the anounce desk with Mountain Dew like before. You also have no ideas what rates WWE gives these people, maybe Coca-Cola gets a cheap deal just so WWE can pretend they're more important to other advertisers by pointing to them and going, see Coca-Cola sponsor us, so why shouldn't you?
Mind you, WWE is fine as long as they're on TV and drawing 1.0's and higher. They might have to stop producing movies and do some other wasteful things at some point, but they won't be dying anytime soon. However, pretending that they're not in a load of shit with their ratings literally tanking (you can't use the words "(slight) decline" or "dropping" for these kind of numbers), because they are. Not going-out-of-business-tomorrow kind of bad, but still pretty damn bad. If they can't turn it around by the time their deal is up (I believe this should be around post-Mania 2017), they'll be out a significant amount of money that they desperately need to hit their break-even point.
Officerrob
Banned
John Pollock said those ad buys like the Coke one was a sweeping NBC (USA) ad buy, not one directly associated with WWE. Look at the ads on Raw, it's still the same old garbage
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I mean the answer to all of this is obvious: force Roman Reigns. How are the USA network heads gonna resist those muscles and chiseled jaw?
funkystudent
Member
Roman Reigns is just the face of the problem but those same issues are spread all through out the show in every storyline.
Nothing good is happening now. Well... The New Day is happening. TBH I dont know how they havent ruined them yet. Give it time I guess they will try and do a squeaky clean face run eventually or something
Nothing good is happening now. Well... The New Day is happening. TBH I dont know how they havent ruined them yet. Give it time I guess they will try and do a squeaky clean face run eventually or something
I think this is somewhat planned to be honest. If it wasn't there would be mass panic to bring back Bryan, Cena etc.
If ratings drop and the network drops them... they can then sign a new deal which included raw and smackdown live on the WWE network, they will then get all the money direct.
If ratings drop and the network drops them... they can then sign a new deal which included raw and smackdown live on the WWE network, they will then get all the money direct.
Officerrob
Banned
Bringing back Bryan is an absolute non starter right now when the mission is to get Reigns over. If Bryan is cleared to get back in the ring, they still will not bring him back until after the Rumble (when the Wrestlemania title match is set), or after Mania itself.
As for Cena, he can do what he wants at this point, and he's locked into another project for Fox.
We are seeing the 2015 version of mass panic, Taker has been working semi regularly. Several weeks back they had a Raw in Texas where they promoted Flair, Austin, Taker, Brock, and Shawn Michaels being on Raw, and it did absolutely nothing for the ratings. There simply is no name that they can bring back at this point to help things. This is a systemic problem ranging from the writing, to production, to commentary, to booking, etc.
WWE will not be dropped from USA. Also, any potential deal where Raw and Smackdown are also on the network will SEVERELY limit the amount of that TV deal
If WWE doesn't restructure how they do they do things, USA won't want them back if ratings continue to drop AND Smackdown ratings don't do anything.
I mean in terms of when their next contract comes due. While they may putting their name out there more and more nowadays, their on-TV product and ratings continue to plummet.
As for House Shows, they seem to go on sale less than 2 months ahead of time, and in some major cities, less than a month. It's absurd.
I mean in terms of when their next contract comes due. While they may putting their name out there more and more nowadays, their on-TV product and ratings continue to plummet.
As for House Shows, they seem to go on sale less than 2 months ahead of time, and in some major cities, less than a month. It's absurd.
That so? I stand corrected than.
I'm European, so we get them half a year ahead of time (they're currently advertising for Post-Mania, for instance), figured it was the same in the US since I always read in the reports that they have the ring announcer announce to the crowd when they're in town the next time and have tickets for sale right away.
You're asking if otakus can be interested in something athletic?
Joking aside, I kind of see where you're coming from. I think Michinoku Pro would probably fit in best as the closest thing in Japan to real life Japanese anime but that's a tiny out of the way company. Then again the Brahman Brothers would turn off so many people with their dead animal antics. I would love DDT to crossover but I don't know how people would react to that when exposed to more than just a few viral videos. Dragon Gate couldn't make that leap back when they were all the hype. In Japan the majority of their fanbase is women but here they marketed as the smark workrate group and just drew the same fans who would have gone to the shows anyway no matter what indie was presenting it. Actually they drew less now that I think back on it. God, DGUSA was such a gigantic blown opportunity.
Chikara would have a better chance but they tried that route before with their limited resources and did not go far. In fact I think the group that had the best chance of merging wrestling and anime was Kaiju Big Battel. They started off well as the wacky stage show that just so happened to resemble wrestling but it's now regressed to just riding along with the indies during Mania weekend. Who knows what Chikara and Kaiju would both be like if they ever got a Lucha Underground sized budget?
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