Fred G. Sanford
two across the lips
No more free TV and moving to Cable hurt Smackdown?
Will Smackdown numbers slip moving to the USA network
- Thread starter Fred G. Sanford
- Start date
LastManStanding
Veteran
no doubt about it.
by default, them not being on Fox will lose several hundred thousand viewers each week. it is what it is and the company as well as the network knows that.
by default, them not being on Fox will lose several hundred thousand viewers each week. it is what it is and the company as well as the network knows that.
Finn Baller
Superstar
of course
they're probably gonna go from 2 mill a week to something in the 1.2-1.4M range staying on Friday nights
they're probably gonna go from 2 mill a week to something in the 1.2-1.4M range staying on Friday nights
Finn Baller
Superstar
USA offered more money
firemanBk
The Manslayer
Fox lost a lot of $ on the Smackdown deal so they weren't exactly keen to re-up
Advertisers still really don't like wrestling even if it's PG apparently
Cattle Mutilation
Superstar
That’s more guaranteed than me making a post that pisses off @Finn Baller
But that’s not some anti-WWE sentiment, it’s just a fact that something that airs on cable tv is going to be viewed less than if it aired on free broadcast tv that’s available to basically every single person residing in the US.
But that’s not some anti-WWE sentiment, it’s just a fact that something that airs on cable tv is going to be viewed less than if it aired on free broadcast tv that’s available to basically every single person residing in the US.
Cattle Mutilation
Superstar
USA offered more money, and FOX didn’t want it anymore because they couldn’t make enough money on ads to break even much less make a profit.
And FOX apparently never viewed as loss-leading programming. I guess they probably have data that indicates people that were watching Smackdown weren’t watching enough of other FOX programming that got advertised during Smackdown to justify taking a loss on the deal. That’s just speculation on my part though.
FOX even allowing them to leave early as the USA deal initially wasn’t supposed to start until October if i remember correctly
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Saysumthinfunnymike
VOTE!!!
FOX didn't want them anymore. They stated that the cost wasn't worth it for them because they weren't receiving the ad revenue they expected during the 2 hours of SD! programming every week.
Fox chose not to renew WWE Smackdown because it wasn’t hitting the advertising numbers, according to Fox CEO Lachland Murdoch in yesterday’s Fox Corporation earnings conference call.
“We look at all of our sports portfolio the same way and new rights the same way. Based on the analysis, on both an advertising point of view, we were not hitting the advertising numbers due to the audience of WWE … for our return on investment to be above the levels that we would accept,” he said. “But also, we didn’t attribute enough significant retransmission revenue to the WWE either. So it made sense for us to move on from them. … Quite simply, we’re very disciplined and the R.O.I. didn’t meet our disciplined parameters so, we wish them luck and we’ve moved on from them.”
Saysumthinfunnymike
VOTE!!!
SD! will probably slip in numbers but maybe NXT will increase in viewership being on The CW. It is available now in 100% of U.S. households.
It won’t as The CW is a dying network and none of their shows even sports outside of some bowl games are cracking a million viewers these days.
Smackdown being on National TV with the Bloodline angle has to be attributed some with the current Boom for the company.
I feel like booking is really gonna have to go to another level for the rest of this year to maintain this level of success.
I feel like booking is really gonna have to go to another level for the rest of this year to maintain this level of success.
