Raw rating lowest since July 2012

[BigCrippyZ]

Originally Posted by The CyNick Nobody who understands the business things WWE makes money off ads ran during RAW. You're so off base in your thinking that is not even funny. WWE had double or triple the ratings in the Attitude Era, but monetarily they didn't maximize TV rights fees because advertisers wanted no part of the show. Today, even though ratings are far lower, they are doing better financially in large part because WWE has reinvented itself as a respobsible corporate citizen. Now you have a lineup of advertisers looking to buy airtime from USA. That wasnt even happening 3 years ago. USA recently came out and responded to the declining ratings by touting how successful WWE is for them. Further, as I've explained many many times, if ratings across the board on down, advertisers will still pay top dollar for the shows that draw the most of the right type of viewer. RAW week in week out is a top 3 viewed show on Monday. Therefore advertisers will still pay top dollar.

I'm not talking about currently. I'm talking about the impact of declining ratings next time WWE's contract is up.

Regardless of whether or not ratings across the board are down in the future, if WWE's ratings are consistently down compared to where they were when they negotiated the current deal last year, even if they're attracting the same "quality" advertisers in the future that they are today, WWE's rights fees are more likely to decline as well. Sure everyone's rights fees might be down too because the lack of viewers over all and WWE may still be getting top dollar.

When WWE makes 40% of their revenues from television rights though, and those rights fees are due to audience size and ratings, any drop or potential drop in that revenue or audience/ratings size is a huge risk. Not only to their financial bottom line but also to their ability market their other products, i.e., Network subs, merch, live events, etc. For example, according to WWE, RAW DVR viewership has stayed stagnant at only an additional 10-12% of the live audience size.