I'll start with TNA Impact Wrestling. It didn't even last the full year on Spike. Of course, they will be on a new network this year. They will continue to tape episodes, with a few live ones sprinkled in between. Getting to the actual numbers, the annual ratings average in 2014 was a 0.94. They didn't have enough original content to finish the year, so they were doing "Best of" episodes. Even if you allow for that, the ratings average is still below what it was in 2013. Steadily sinking. They did switch nights in the middle of the year, which did have a negative impact on initial ratings after the switch. Regardless, had they not switched, football on Thursdays would have still murdered them. How will they do on a new network that is not too mainstream? They will need time to build back up. Aside from the numbers, they have lost a lot of top stars in recent years. They cannot properly create stars. They need to get over that to stay above a 1.0.
Smackdown is also making a move this year. It is moving to Thursdays. Football will not be an issue until the end of the year, but it will surely hurt them. Smackdown averaged an 1.89. That is in line with what Smackdown has been doing in recent years. Amazing. Smackdown can do stable numbers even without any World Champion showing up, no John Cena there on a regular basis, and just rotating around a bunch of guys in the main-event spotlight of that show. The numbers are not huge, but there is something to be said for not consistently dropping. Problem is, I will probably be saying something else one year from now, if I am still blogging then.
And how about Raw? Still the most important wrestling show on television. 2.96. That is down from 2013's 3.01. Raw finally dropped below that 3.0 benchmark. Viewership for this week's Raw was also pretty bad. The final Raw of the year averaged 3.17 million viewers for the first hour, 3.48 million for the second, and 3.73 for the final hour. This episode of Raw featured a few big things going on and was not against any NFL competition. The college bowl games that night were not even too great and did not draw killer numbers. Imagine how horrible Raw would have done if it actually fell on New Year's Eve. People would be out partying. Who would watch Raw? You would actually see at least one hour of Raw drop below 3 million viewers. That is something you might see in a few years. The WWE has been able to slow the bleeding in recent years, but they have not been able to stop it. There has been a steady decline. They need to do a better job of entertaining fans to draw them in. Simply picking and choosing guys to develop them to be stars is not the way to go. It is better to build around individuals that can naturally connect with fans. Forcing guys like Roman Reigns and Captain Work Ethic is not working.
I once read that a financial executive in the WWE said that their TV contract is structured in a way in which they do not need to worry about ratings from a money standpoint. Does that mean that ratings do not matter? I always see some fans acting like that. The numbers are going down because less people watch TV today than a decade ago. There are so many other ways to watch Raw. There are more channels on. You can make some arguments. The stupidest argument I have ever seen is that the same number of viewers watch today as they did in the Attitude Era. I have actually seen some fans argue that Raw always gets the same number of viewers. It isn't true.
Are there more channels? Yeah. Thing is, a lot of these channels are not even mainstream. I have talked about before that I had never even heard of Destination America, TNA's new home. And these channels and these other shows are really supposed to be slowly killing the WWE? The population is growing in the United States. The population growth rate might have slowed in recent years, but it is still positive. There is more competition for wrestling shows, but there are also more people to win over. Pro wrestling is supposed to be competitive. The business isn't dead, but it should not be this stale and in such a decline.
Numbers do not have to be declining like this. I think back to 2011. TNA's ratings average actually grew from the previous year. At a time when Raw's average dropped, TNA's grew. I look at Smackdown maintaining around the same number even though it does not get the same focus that Raw gets. I look at the great numbers Raw got just a few weeks ago the night after Survivor Series. Against a lot of competition, it still drew a ton of viewers. The potential is definitely there. The WWE can do things here and there that usually lead to a ratings spike. Even though those part-timers draw, you actually have to give the fans a quality product to get them to stay after those part-timers leave. You have to go in the direction of what is working out.
Regardless of whether or not ratings matter from an immediate financial aspect, they are still an indicator. They help you to determine how successful your product is. Are they the only indicator you should look at? No, but they are an important one. And you have to analyze them to understand what kind of fans you have and what draws them in. If you look at 4 million viewers for one episode of Raw and think you have 4 million A+ fans, you are making a terrible mistake. And you usually have to take these things into consideration before you make costly investments. If you misjudge your worth, you might end up flopping. Look at the WWE Network. The WWE misjudged how many subscribers they would be able to get. For such a cheap price and everything they were offering, you would think they could reach their benchmark easily. Nope! And as those ratings continue to steadily decline, do you think that is a good sign for the health of your business?
One last thing, you shouldn't make too much of a small change. If Raw's ratings drop 0.01 from one week to another, no need to panic. Even that kind of change from year to year is not bad. What do you look at before you say things are going good and bad, and not just being stable? If you see huge drops or gains, that is worth talking about. If you see a steady decline or increase over time, that is worth talking about. You can even set a certain benchmark. I like to go by 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and so on. When TNA drops below a 1.0, that is bad. Now that Raw's annual average has dropped below a 3.0, that is worth talking about. Whenever Raw can get a 4.0 or better, you should pay attention to why. If numbers are dancing around the same area, that's fine. But it is when things are definitely moving in a certain direction that you should be paying attention. My overall point is that these pro wrestling shows should at least be stable. They do not have to declining the way they are.
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