"It is sad to say, but the decline in viewership for ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown Live’ may have some devastating effects on the company in 2019…
Dave Scherer of PWInsider is reporting that in the most recent investors conference call, WWE were asked about the status of their contract negotiations with NBC Universal as the current contract expires in 2019.
WWE declined to answer, which Scherer explains is a good thing as Vince McMahon previously said when they signed the previous contract that they predict to double viewers and the product isn’t ‘DVRable,’ meaning that consumers won’t record it to watch later and would rather watch live. This obviously isn’t the case, with record low viewership for both ‘Raw‘ and ‘Smackdown Live.’
The highest offer, it would seem, for WWE during the last round of negotiations was by NBC Universal, but wasn’t as high as what McMahon wanted. Now with lesser viewers, there doesn’t appear to be any way they would accept higher. It is likely, Scherer explains, that NBC Universal may not renew their contract."
Source
“For the sake of comparison the 5/12/14 Raw, which was the show before WWE announced that new deal in 2014, did 4,006,000 overnight viewers. By contrast, the second May Raw of 2017 did overnight 2,696,000 viewers. For you math types, that is a drop of 33% of people watching Raw.”
With that last bit, you can see a drop of 33% is A LOT. I am not sure where they will stand come 2019 but if they don't make improvements, there is a chance they will have to try something new. I am sure things will work out and they will do something but what are your thoughts on this? What if Raw/Smackdown did move from cable TV to something like Netflix or Hulu?
Dave Scherer of PWInsider is reporting that in the most recent investors conference call, WWE were asked about the status of their contract negotiations with NBC Universal as the current contract expires in 2019.
WWE declined to answer, which Scherer explains is a good thing as Vince McMahon previously said when they signed the previous contract that they predict to double viewers and the product isn’t ‘DVRable,’ meaning that consumers won’t record it to watch later and would rather watch live. This obviously isn’t the case, with record low viewership for both ‘Raw‘ and ‘Smackdown Live.’
The highest offer, it would seem, for WWE during the last round of negotiations was by NBC Universal, but wasn’t as high as what McMahon wanted. Now with lesser viewers, there doesn’t appear to be any way they would accept higher. It is likely, Scherer explains, that NBC Universal may not renew their contract."
Source
“For the sake of comparison the 5/12/14 Raw, which was the show before WWE announced that new deal in 2014, did 4,006,000 overnight viewers. By contrast, the second May Raw of 2017 did overnight 2,696,000 viewers. For you math types, that is a drop of 33% of people watching Raw.”
With that last bit, you can see a drop of 33% is A LOT. I am not sure where they will stand come 2019 but if they don't make improvements, there is a chance they will have to try something new. I am sure things will work out and they will do something but what are your thoughts on this? What if Raw/Smackdown did move from cable TV to something like Netflix or Hulu?
