Quote:
Originally Posted by xrodmuc316
WWE is at the point where adding content is what matters most. It is a business model a lot of media properties do nowadays.
Two I can think of right off the bat are South Park and Its Always Sunny. Both are incredible shows, but they both have been coming out with 10 episode seasons, because they are simply adding more content each year to an already amazing catalogue.
No matter what WWE does week to week, they are adding 7 hours of prime time content to their catalogue. The end game is what was hinted at prior to covid. If WWE can license let's say 7500 hours of back catalogue to a streamer, let's say Peacock for 3 years, then at the end of that 3 years, the catalogue is now 8500 hours. Even if those extra 1000 hours are the worst 1000 hours of the 8500 total, the catalogue is worth more than it was, because it's still got all of the best content, plus an additional 1000 hours.
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You're right. Where the balance tips is when that bulk volume of content becomes less valuable than less content with more value. If Raw gets to the stage where it is unwanted by Peacock, then suddenly they have a fucking problem, because they can have 8,500 hours of content, but they need to be able to sell it. That 7,500 hours of content might be more valuable. Even if they can peddle the 8,500, they may be able to peddle the 7,500 for an overall gain if the product is hotter.
That being said, I don't think we'll see any of this. If we do, it'll be because that Raw rating keeps tanking and because one guy is in charge of a show he's happy with, but can't replicate it on the other show, then it's the show. Or USA orders that third hour away, which seems unlikely, unless they get really perturbed by the overall Raw decrease.
What I think will happen is, as cable dies, the WWE will endear itself to these budding networks and try to strike up deals where their content provides weekly content to a service that needs it, while they can still exist in the world of cable. I think they're hoping for a slow crunch back down.
Raw and SmackDown both have one hour edit versions that air over here. That tells me that there is interest in the product enough to justify putting those packages together and exporting them. The WWE will try and get Raw and SmackDown onto apps like Peacock, ESPN+, etc. at the full length for as much as they can, but they will probably settle for using those hour edit shows as OTT packages to get their content onto those sorts of mediums and compensate for dying cable or play both sides of the field for a while. Raw might decrease in value exclusively for USA Network, but as something that does really well on USA, plus something they can put on Peacock, they can make up the ground there while not necessarily alienating anyone.
It is not a good sign for the product getting more digestible or necessarily more engaging, but it is probably the best thing for their bottom-line. It would be a great time for a Vince McMahon sale, honestly. The next time their deals come up, they might be the most valuable they've ever been, given how much content they have and how potentially crucial they might be to cable and streaming. But in addition to that, they also have that back catalogue too.
The best sign for the WWE becoming more engaging, in my opinion, is if they decide they need to heat their product up to get metrics up. They would have to understand that they need a star to get those ratings up, as well as those houses up when crowds come back. They've now got the resources to pay top talent
a lot of money to stay with them for a
long time. A guy like Drew is probably signed on for five years from the start of this year. So, barring something really tragic cutting his active career short, they can probably bank on him to either be someone they can build around or at least be someone that, somehow, transcends the business and can't wrestle anymore for them, but is another beacon of WWE's ability to produce mainstream stars for them to gloat about.
They don't really have the same excuse to not make guys they've had since Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley left. Now they can pay them to sit at home and aren't going to let them out of their contracts upon request. Anyone they decide to make is likely WWE for a good half-decade.