Wrestlemania on NBC?

[Simple Fan]

Was thinking about this the other day theses post sparred this thread.

Wrestlemania is like the Superbowl. It draws on its own regardless of who participates.

I was just thinking the other day if WWE are willing to give away Mania free(to an extent) and they are doing better now than ever with advertisers what are the chances that eventually they air Mania on NBC and have a set up like the Super bowl with commercials.

I was about to laugh that off, but at this point I'd be willing to entertain anyone who had numbers to present.

Maybe not Wrestlemania but I could see them trying a lesser PPV on a major network perhaps. Maybe Summerslam? Networks are always looking for summertime filler

Ok figured I'd just make a thread if I was going to dig up some numbers. WWE Network reached 1.8 million subscribers for Wrestlemania. Only 1.4 million was paid subscribers.

Wresltlemania subsribers

Total Subscribers
(thousands)

April 4th, 2016
WrestleMania 32



Total (Paid + Free Trial) 1,824
Total Paid 1,454
Total Domestic (Paid + Free Trial) 1,390
Domestic Paid 1,109
Total International (Paid + Free Trial) 434
International Paid 345

That adds up to just over $14.5 million . Not including PPV buys or money sponsors like Snickers and Mtn Dew. They genearated

NBC's broadcast of Superbowl 50 generated over $375 million. Not sure how you could work it out but NBC could purchase the rights to Mania for example $20 million and NBC would get all the add revenue. Might be a really good way to grow WWEs fan base and make Wrestlemania an even bigger event than what it is.

[Simple Fan]

Bleacher Report article from 2012 befor the Network but talks about something similar.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1210438-wwe-forget-pay-per-view-wrestlemania-should-be-on-nbc

[The CyNick]

The problem is if you put Mania on TV then you hurt network subs. Having access to Mania I'm sure is a major driver for the subs they have. The other issue is how many people would watch? Say 4 million watch RAW every week. Even if you bring all those viewers over, that's not a massive number for NBC. So you run the risk of looking like a failure.

[Simple Fan]

I doubt a Wrestlemania on NBC would only get 4 million viewers. They only had about 400,00 people join the Network for the free month. No telling how many people watched it illegally. With all the other content and NXT on the Network they would still make all the money from the Network plus what ever money they got from NBC for broadcasting rights.

[screech]

Didn't they used to air a condensed version of Mania on NBC like, a month afterward?

Feel like that was a real thing. Those numbers might be able to give some kind of idea for interest in this.

[screech]

I agree with road doggy dog on SummerSlam being a better choice for this, at least at first.

[#1-norm-fan]

Saturday Night's Main Event bombed the last time they tried it and that was when WWE's overall ratings were higher than they are now. Wouldn't be worth it for WWE or NBC to try with WrestleMania at this point.

[Simple Fan]

Didn't they used to air a condensed version of Mania on NBC like, a month afterward?

Feel like that was a real thing. Those numbers might be able to give some kind of idea for interest in this.

They were around 2.5-3-5 million so not so great but I'm sure a live one would do better. Don't imagine they would get anything over 10 million though and even that might not be enough to get advertisers on board.

Agree it might be somthing to try with a smaller ppv as a test run of sorts. Essentially comes down to advertisers really.

[The CyNick]

I doubt a Wrestlemania on NBC would only get 4 million viewers. They only had about 400,00 people join the Network for the free month. No telling how many people watched it illegally. With all the other content and NXT on the Network they would still make all the money from the Network plus what ever money they got from NBC for broadcasting rights.

That's the $64000 question though. There's no real way to price it without doing it, but I'm of the belief without Mania, The Network probably has less than 500k subs (maybe less). Things like NXT and the library IMO are only draws for the most hardcore fans.

I don't thing Mania is a strong enough TV product to draw a huge casual audience like the Super Bowl does for the NFL. I wouldn't expect much more than the weekly RAW audience. But who knows. I just look at it like they're making more today with the network model than they were with the ppv model, and they still have huge international markets that are not saturated yet. I think 2 million subs is a realistic at some point. Why would you mess with that type of revenue stream?

[Ruien]

I could see it being more of a profit. Testing it on a lesser ppv will not do any good. Everyone tunes in for Mania. Who the hell really cares about Summerslam? It would all depend on what the deal is for Vince though with NBC.

Probably safer to do what they did for ESPN but put one of the main event matches on it to generate real interest. See how many people tune in and see what the ad revenue will be around for it and if it seems like it would be profitable at that point then do it.

[Simple Fan]

The pre show on USA only did 1.3 million viewers. Probably wouldn't work in less they got a great deal but that could be something that would raise their TV deal a lot if Manias rights were involved.

[Emperor Smeat]

Did NBC show a replay of Mania last year?

Want to say no but not sure. Know that NBC lost a lot of interest in showing WWE shows and moved everything to USA Network instead around the same time as the new tv contracts were being negotiated.

[Ruien]

The pre show on USA only did 1.3 million viewers. Probably wouldn't work in less they got a great deal but that could be something that would raise their TV deal a lot if Manias rights were involved.

No one cares about Usos vs Dudleys or a Divas tag team match. If you put Shane vs Taker on that slot in that slot instead it would have been a huge draw. Plus if it goes on NBC the viewers would also rise.

[slik]

All I remember about the edited versions of WrestleMania on NBC was that one year they replaced Undertaker's entrance music with the Katy Perry song 'Supernatural'

brb going to find it

[slik]

K, found it


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0AI_12oMf0M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[#1-norm-fan]

That... That is something...

[#1-norm-fan]

They showed WrestleMania 30 on NBC too and Daniel Bryan was cut from it completely. lol

[road doggy dogg]

jesus christ @ that video

[slik]

reading old tpww posts about UnderPerry...


Why was I never told that this song was used as The Undertaker's theme on the NBC repeat of WrestleMania XXVII?



Seriously, Katy Perry as The Undertaker's theme? http://tpwwforums.com/images/smilies/wtf.gif It's pretty insane, but I can see why they chose it. Mostly due to the lyrics and also that Katy Perry is pretty big in popular culture.

I much prefer the Johnny Cash theme he used leading up to Mania

lol awesome, kind of hope they use that when The Undertaker comes back now

it'd be great if that was his theme when he returns.

[slik]

They showed WrestleMania 30 on NBC too and Daniel Bryan was cut from it completely. lol

lol I forgot about that but remember it now that you mentioned it. It focused on Cena vs Bray Wyatt and Lesnar vs Taker as well.

[Simple Fan]

They showed WrestleMania 30 on NBC too and Daniel Bryan was cut from it completely. lol

How'd they manage that and why? He was like the whole show besides Taker. Seems odd to edit him out of WM replay when he was still with the company.

[slik]

^

They were worried he wouldn't attract new viewers because he was injured and that new viewers would tune into the special, be hooked via WWE Magic, tune in the following Monday and wonder where he was during RAW. Keep in mind, despite this train of thought, they aired the Undertaker match with Lesnar.