It isn't a shock to me RAW is facing some of the lowest ratings it's ever had on the USA Network while Constable Corbin, Bobby Lashley's Sisters and Roman vs. Jinder are things that exist.

I know the horse has been beaten enough but I don't think ratings will ever rise up to levels they want while the show is 3 hours.

Unless the USA Network has something that gets remotely what RAW, even at some of it's lowest ratings, gets in the 3rd hour -- it will continue to exist as well.

USA needs to shell out big money to snag LOVE AND HIP HOP from VH-1.

WWE's stink from RAW is really starting to rub off badly on Smackdown these past few weeks.

Last 3 weeks ended up being:
* Set new record low for 2018
* Tie record low for 2018
* Set new record low for 2018

Just 138k away from hitting a sub 2-million number.

Really disappointed to hear SDLive hit a record low rating this week -- I blame RAW.

People are tuning out of watching RAW live and assuming SD is just as boring -- and it's not -- SD is good! Just 140k viewers away from being under 2 million.
:'( Get it together WWE.

You can't blame Raw for Smackdown's ratings. They're both basically the same. Raw has more mainstream appeal but neither is stellar, compelling television. Smackdown's ratings are slipping because the writing is dull and boring and no one outside the IWC cares about AJ Styles' workrate to make up for it.

Its been a theory of Meltzer ever since Smackdown became a live show on Tuesdays. He based it off audience percentages and bumps/declines with the idea of RAW acting as a lead-in for Smackdown.

Its not something definitive since its been proven wrong plenty of times but usually whenever streaks start to occur, RAW's impact on Smackdown becomes a lot more noticeable. RAW for the past several weeks has been very unwatchable and even though Smackdown itself has been more enjoyable, the numbers are not showing it. Even worse was the lack of a bump due to no NHL or NBA games on Tuesday.

SmackDown feels like a lame duck show. Sure, they've got some great talent there, but what the fuck are they doing? AJ Styles is too stupid to wear a cup; Nakamura is funny as a heel, but that shouldn't be the point; Samoa Joe is great at talking, but that seems to be all he does; Bryan is plugged into a program with Big Cass.

It's the same gentrified product as Raw, with no one allowed to stand out and run, therefore no one is really over and they aren't going to compel people to watch. In addition to that, SmackDown has been treated like the secondary show forever. When the brand extension was over, they would just run shit on SmackDown as a trial for Raw. It's appealing to internet fans because it seems "other" because it hasn't been a priority for WWE and people like to think of it as the "workrate show" or as some sort of underdog.

Good/Bad news from this week's numbers for RAW.

The good being it went up by a sizeable amount and no more NBA/NHL playoffs games to worry about till next year.

The bad being even with the lack of competition, none of the hours hit the 3+ million mark and none of the hours took the #1 spot.

<1 demo rating. Wow.

RAW had the lowest numbers of viewers it's had in the modern era, slightly lower than Election Night. Average viewing figure is 2.4 million.


http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018...story-for-the/

damn
,ratings in the tank

Almost down half the audience from that Raw 25 show. lolWWE

Considering football season is coming up soon, expect several more "lowest ever" records to get set this year.

WWE's biggest problem is they have no clue anymore how to build quality shows and carry that momentum for the long haul. Instead they pretty much are relying on people being bored on Mondays to be in the mood to watch wrestling.

Time for a Vince appearance I bet.

Probably going go be advertised for the Raw after Exteme Rules to “discuss the fate of the Universal Chpionship”.

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Good.

WWE deserves shitty ratings and shitty viewing numbers for the shitty product they consistently put out. I know they won't actually get bad enough to change anything, but I hope things gets worse and that attendance, merch, etc., all drop. Maybe then someone will have the bright idea to actually give a shit about having a consistent quality product instead of just putting out as many hours as possible of the horrible, overly scripted filler and nonsense they're fortunate to be able to currently do so well with.

Sure a downturn would likely hurt the talent personally, but it'd be better for everyone in the long run, talent included, if they were forced to improve the product.

It'd serve them right if it got to the point it started to effect them (I imagine there are drop-out clauses for USA and FOX should ratings dip to a point that WWE aren't holding up their end). It's not as easy as putting effort in when things have already been damaged. When you burn an audience, you burn them good. Those people that checked out Raw 25 and didn't come back probably aren't going to come back anytime soon, and they are the people most likely to become the casual audience. Nope.

I stopped watching about 2 months ago. first time i completely stopped since i started 30 years ago. i still come on here and read the reports to see if anything major happened to at least keep up, but it just got so repetitive for me. I felt like i was seeing the same matches over and over again and it was just the most bland writing. Now i see they are planning two Wrestlemanias along with two Royal Rumbles. Like most are saying, it's too much of the same thing over and over

I haven't watched Raw in 2 weeks, tired of Roman Reigns feel like he's gonna main event E.R. and win. Not interested in that storyline.

The comments on this topic on Reddit are really good/interesting IMO:


https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...viewership_in/

SD did 2.1 million viewers, up from last week's low of 2.0 million viewers

- wrestlinginc

Anybody who thinks ratings matter at all doesn't understand TV. As long as they are able to sell ads, and doesn't cause scandals, it is a homerun. Until advertisers stop buying the ads, ratings don't mean shit.

The fact that the show is live is the best bet for advertisers, cause then no fast forwarding commercials.

The only way the poor ratings might mean is maybe WWE and Vinces ego will motivate him to do better.

Honestly though, at 71 and having $3 Billion, and being solid for essentially the next 6 years, Vince probably is gonna sit back and relax even more.

Ratings determine how much a network can charge for ad rates. That is why The Super Bowl can charge 3 million for 30 seconds.

Correct, but that is the extreme. There are enough advertisers wanting their commercial on a live show that the rating doesn't matter if it is a 5 or a 2.

I agree at some point if the ratings dropped enough advertisers would not pay the premium.

My point is that as long as the network can make money from ads, they will be happy, hence why even with garbage ratings WWE still sold their programming for $2 billion+.

The more people watching, the more valuable advertising is. A show consistently pulling in 5 million people is more valuable than the same show pulling in 2. It's just common sense. You can argue the point that the ratings can drop to before they really have to worry about actually having money problems but the idea that it doesn't matter is silly.

I honestly look at ratings as a sign of longtime die hard viewers 'giving up' on WWE -- while WWE isn't exactly endearing themselves to the under 18 demo they need to replace those who give up WWE as their new 'lifelong fans' who watch no matter what.

Dropping 500K in viewers each year on average doesn't mean those 500k viewers all of sudden started watching clips online or read the results -- a fraction will -- but many will just 'stop watching' altogether. WWE isn't something most people start watching in their 20's, 30's, 40's -- it starts when they are young.

At some point WWE is going to kill their image as a reliable provider of live content if numbers keep declining. Having small spikes here and there mean nothing if its not sustainable in the long run. Its one of the big reasons why WCW folded since their brand wasn't seen valuable anymore for tv.

FOX and NBC won't be in any rush to toss WWE out due to the money they are paying but unlike USA Network, they already have shows that easily outperform WWE's stuff. Only advantage WWE has is not needing breaks for "seasons" or in general. NBC has also already shown they have no issue getting rid of WWE stuff if they feel its too much of a hassle to keep (ex. Saturday Night Main Event revival, Mania highlights show, Smackdown).

It seems people have already handled this, but the ratings (and other things) determine how valuable ad placement on those shows is. Wrestling faces a problem, because it actually has more trouble selling ad space than things with a lower rating. Their placement in the demo ratings is probably more important than the specifics between a 2 and 2.1 million viewers, but eventually advertisers will say "wrestling is shit," which is when television networks will say "wrestling is shit."

RAW managed to rebound well this week partially due to the post-PPV bump. Interestingly though is this week actually managed to do worse rankings wise since last week was a 2,3,5 split and this week was a 2,5,6 for hour splits.

Next week is going to be a tossup since it won't have the post-PPV bump to help bail out the numbers but also won't have a major sports game(s) going on either I think.

SD had 2.2 million viewers, up from last week's 2.1 million viewers.

-wrestlinginc

This week's RAW managed to do worse than last week although was also the rare time where the show didn't suffer a big drop in female viewers. WWE teasing a big announcement and rumors spreading it was women related likely played a big role in them keeping the female viewership through the show.

RAW also lost out to its blood rival Love & Hip Hop for rankings stuff.

So people tuned out for Roman's #1 contender match. Shocker.

The male audience has been tuning out for a while now. Surprised that women actually stuck around. I expect that to change.