WWE's business decisions

[Kane Knight]

I've recently been reminded a lot of the music industry when thinking about WWE. You see, despite a loss of audience, a loss of advertising revenue, and a loss of ticket sales (barring events like Wrestlemania, which are always freaking huge), they've managed to turn a tidy profit and maintain a good stock value. Of course, they've done so by turning to other markets. I think WWE films was yet another attempt to do that, though poor sales of the Condemned sure kiboshed that. Merchandising has been a larger part of their profits than ever before, near as I can tell. A large portion of that is children. And that's where I'm reminded of the music industry. Hell, I could expand it to the film industry, at least in terms of theaters and DVDs and such. You see, a couple of decades ago, the music industry decided that the way to target families were through their kids. It was seen as a ripe source of income, especially when "buy me that!" syndrome is included in the list of factors. They were not as successful as they wanted telling adults what they wanted, so a more impressionable market was sought. Well, let's fast-forward a couple of decades: The RIAA is now suing people because they are desperate. They've continued to try and aim at the youth market, but they've seen a rapid drop in interest. So desperate are they that they are asking for nine thousand dollars per song "illegally" downloaded, even if they cannot prove the person did it, even if the person doesn't have any stolen music, and sometimes, even if the person is dead. Yes, the RIAA is even suing infants and dead people. Like I said, the MPAA has also come into the same sort of situation. While they're still profitable for now, there's been a lot of problems maintaining that profit line. These are industries who are demonstrating the final desperate acts businesses often go through before they fail. WWE's in the stage now where they're pandering to children at the expense of other markets. For now, the benefits outweight the losses. I say for now because a lot of businesses have gone in such a direction, and it rarely turns out well longterm. That's not to say that WWE has never marketed to children before. I would never pretend to ignore the 80s and the affect Hulk Hogan's appeal to kids had on the boom that ensued. Then again, it worked then. It worked with the record industry, it worked with the film industry. With that in mind, do you believe that the current direction of WWE is sustainable? Do you think that the negative stigmas associated with wrestling will prevent a wider child audience from "picking up the slack?" Do you think WWE will continue to maintain profits successfully, despite the failings of others who have tried the same?