I usually post about the ratings in other threads so maybe it is time to have a thread devoted to the ratings entirely.

This week's RAW followed the downward trend of previous weeks, but the drop-off was much more severe (new 18 year low).

http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ra...0-years-202386

Found this online, visualized viewer average for this year



You can see the data used to create the graph in one place here (there may be other better ones in a table form, but this was all I could find. Definitely post if you find a table version of the ratings history.):

http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/st...der-3-million/

Anyways, with the viewer numbers continuing to decline, it brings up a lot of interesting topics for discussion:

- How low can the ratings get?
- Will WWE make any changes if the ratings continue to drop? Return of 2 hour RAW? Switch to a seasonal format rather than showing 52 episodes a year?
- Do the ratings matter anymore? WWE's primary source of income is likely all from the WWE Network at this point, so maybe the TV viewership doesn't matter as much as it used too. Another thing to consider is that less and less people are watching TV now with cord-cutting on the rise.

Nothing will change until WWE loses a bunch of money. Ratings continue to drop, yet they seem to make a boatload more money each quarter. HHH has said that ratings is only one thing that they look at to determine how they're doing (not including money) and that it's not a big piece of the pie so either he's sugar coating or they don't matter anymore.

You would think at some point though WWE might make more money to not even pay for the 3 hour TV slot if the ratings continue to fall perpetually, and they could get a higher ROI by using the money for something else. Maybe its dirt cheap to air RAW on TV though, I'm not sure.

The amount of extra money that WWE gets from NBC for that extra hour and the 5-10 minute overrun is huge, so I don't see that going anywhere anytime soon. At this point, the only thing that will change the direction of the company is NBC having a talk with Vince because of the sliding ratings. Apparently the word is that Vince is convinced the recent ratings slide is due too the time of year and is expecting a full rebound when WM season kicks in after the Rumble. I think that is the time we will see something happen if we ever see it.

#toobigtofail

Or as dids would say:

The same tired rubbish. Rinse and repeat every year.

ratings don't matter in the short run but the potential longterm impact is enormous. every avenue of income the wwe has is predicated on people watching the product. the more people stop watching the less they get from ppv gates, house show gates, merch sales etc etc etc

and even as a direct impact of the ratings the price the wwe sells its broadcast rights for is going to drop a ton if ratings keep plummeting.

while ratings aren't as important as they used to be given the arrival of DVR, hulu, and the internet generally, i think if they get below 2.0 you're gonna see pressure from stakeholders/advertisers for a change to be made. if that happens, i don't think WWE has any choice but to acquiesce as their tv deal is probably right up there with house show merch sales and the network in terms of importance to the bottom line.

a 2 hour raw would probably help the product overall but they probably won't be willing to lose the extra revenue for that final hour. it's hard not to be shorsighted when you're a public company so i don't really blame them there. best case scenario is that pressure forces vince out of creative control and someone in touch with reality takes his place.

Ratings catch DVR stuff fwiw or so I've read from somebody with a Nielson box.

WWE to rectify ratings decline by adding fourth hour to Raw

http://411mania.com/wrestling/why-wa...rvivor-series/

"The original plans for the show had Reigns winning and giving him a title run is still the long-term plan. However, because Reigns gets booed at tapings, WWE wants to get fans behind him by pitting him against the Authority as they screw him out of title wins, mirroring what happened with Daniel Bryan. The hope is that this will fight the perception among some fans that Reigns is the “corporate” champion that he’s picked up by being the next face of the company."

=/

So basically after TLC, the "road to wrestlemania" begins, and viewer numbers should begin to rise. Even looking at the chart although it starts on the first show in January you can see that viewers climbed sharply before the Rumble. I think its panic time if that isn't the case this year. Wish the plot did the last 3 years or so in order to see just how severe the fall ratings decline usually is

But not Canadian or ratings from any other country?

WWE keeps making more money because they are expanding into other markets, not because they are doing great in the US. House show and TV taping attendance in the US is generally down as well. Average age of a Raw viewer in the US is over 40 now because they hooked a lot of new viewers in the 80s and late 90s, and not many at all the last 10 or so years.

If the product was better, they would be able to expand faster in other markets and not turn off as many potential viewers, but they just have so much easy money to be made as a big wrestling company with good talent that they probably can grow for a long time even with the awful writing. Luke warm McDonald's food is amazing if all you have ever had in your life is porridge.

Nielsen do Australia's ratings. Pretty sure they do Canada too but I could be wrong. In whatever country they don't do it in, I'd bet there's another system the WWE can access for metrics.

So yes, it must be because we think it's real and that Reigns was secretly working with the Authority all along.

Utter nonsense really.

What's even more absurd is that re-concocting the DB storyline would make you believe Vince's ego is so big he thinks that the story he created was the reason the fans got behind Bryan. If he really needed to look to the past for Reigns there was a perfect Survivor Series storyline for him. Even a repeat of the Screwjob would have been better.

Reigns should be getting group beatdowns i.e. Rock vs. McMahon-Helmsley Regime circa 2000 at the end of every RAW until he wins the title if they think this whole thing will even work in regards to invoking sympathy from the crowd towards him.

I certainly had sympathy for him when he successfully fought off three guys, including the new champion, all by himself at the end of Raw. He's already overcome the odds.

I'm definitely not suggesting I believe it by posting that. It's just an amazing paragraph regardless of accuracy imo.

Vince is just going to blame it on the lack of Cena being on TV. Then when the ratings slightly go up because everyone loves the Rumble, he will credit the returning Cena.

I agree.

The idea the WWE could even contemplate their audience understanding the definition of perception is in itself laughable.

It took me a while but I finally found WWE's financial numbers from the previous quarter. Total revenue for the entire Corp. was $166 million. $65.2 million of that was from TV and $40.7 million was from the Network. So I think in the long term the ratings do matter especially the closer they get to the deal needing to be renewed.