WWE Raw Nielsen Ratings Are Bad, But They Aren’t Everything

Doom & gloom is coming in full force from the WWE Universe on social media as the heavily anticipated Raw ratings are in.

But does the Nielsen Ratings System tell the entire story in 2015? PWP’s Founder Jay Alletto chimes in with his take & some interesting facts.

We knew it was coming. The build-up has been going on since Seth Rollins went down with a knee injury. Just how low could Raw’s ratings go with a predictable new WWE World Heavyweight Champion?

The post Survivor Series 2015 WWE Raw ratings are in…and as expected, they are not good. Raw dipped to record lows as they generated a measly 2.16 rating, down from the 2.28 rating that they generated last week. Don’t get me wrong…Raw was bad. And for the most part, has been bad in recent memory.

The knee-jerk reaction by the IWC to the ratings is as predictable as The Authority kicking off the show each week.

Every week, thousands of so-called “experts” on the business wait patiently at their computers for the overnights so they can BURY THE HELL out of WWE; likely because it makes them feel better about themselves.

But that rating you see doesn’t tell the entire story.

For the first time since 1997, Raw dipped below 3 million viewers with approximately 2.964 million. Terrible. However….

If you are wondering how these very precise numbers are generated, I’m here to tell you. In short, the Nielsen Ratings system was started by a couple of guys in the 1920s to figure out how many people were listening to radio. They were then moved to television with the same concept; determining how many people were tuned in to a television show.

Criticism on the Nielsen Ratings System has been going on for decades, but as technology continues to evolve, the Nielsen Ratings System continues to become less relevant. People are watching less live television…period.

Instead of sitting on the couch and flipping through the channels, we have “Netflix and Chill”, Hulu (which airs Monday Night Raw), HBO GO, Amazon Prime…and let’s not forget about the one you’re most interested in: WWE Network! And you know what else is crazy? You can use all of these services on your smart phone, tablet, laptop or whatever streaming device you may own.

On top of that, you can literally speak to your brand new shiny XBOX-ONE & tell it what you want it to do.

And how many wrestling fans actually listen to live radio? We don’t. We traded that in for recorded podcasts! We’re an “on demand” society. We want what we want and we want it now, dammit! We don’t want to watch it when THEY tell us to.

Here is a perfect example for everyone to wrap their heads around:

In this chart, taken directly from the Wikipedia page for the Nielsen Ratings System (you can find your citations there, smart asses), we see the past 20 years highest average household Nielsen rating for each ‘network’ television season. Remember, Raw is on cable, which has a lower reach than that of the major networks:

(Side Note: I Love Lucy, in the 1952-1953 season, generated an average 67.3 rating. HOLY COW!)

The greatest factoid about this chart is that weekly episodic television (aside from whatever NCIS did from 2012-2014) is barely listed over the past 20 years. Instead, the seasonal American Idol & Sunday Night Football have dominated the past 10 years.

As Michael Cole has told you over and over and over and over again, “Monday Night Raw is the longest running weekly episodic show in television history!” Should WWE consider seasons? 

When there are consistently less eyes on television screens, there will be less people watching your product. Whether it’s WWE, South Park, Family Guy,  In 20 years, the highest rated show on network television now is almost 10 points below what it was. That’s about 10 million less people watching the highest rated show on TV.

Let’s not forget about the invention of the good ol’ DVR!

In 2004, DVR entered my household for the first time. I immediately recorded Raw every single week and watched it when I felt like it, choosing to skip the commercials & enjoy it on my own time. This completely changed the landscape of how people view television. To this day, I often miss watching Raw live & contributing to these dreaded overnight Nielsen Ratings that everyone cares so much about.

The amount of people who watch Raw via their DVR box is taken into consideration, but it isn’t counted into that overnight rating that wrestling news sites shove down your throat every Tuesday for ‘clicks’, suckers. Hulu watchers of Monday Night Raw aren’t included in the overnight Nielsen Ratings either.

All of these facts directly effect WWE Monday Night Raw; and WWE is fully aware of it. During The Attitude Era, when WWE was entrenched in a ratings war with rival WCW, the ratings meant everything to them.

WWE relied on the Nielsen Ratings to tell them exactly how many people were watching on Monday Night’s. At times, the combined ratings for Raw & Nitro would generate over a 10.0! That was astronomical and likely never to be duplicated again. This was one of the few ways that WWE could gauge their overall audience back in the day.

In 2015, WWE has more analytics on their company than we could ever imagine or even know about! They can tell exactly how many people click to watch an individual segment from Raw on WWE.com. They know exactly how many people mentioned the term #Raw on Twitter or how many “LIKES” a certain post gets on Facebook. They know which superstars are searched the most online, which is a big factor in determining who they see as most popular. They have employees who only analyze these analytics & relay them to the people in power.

WWE is more concerned about their overall fanbase, which far exceeds a 2.16 Raw Rating, than the actual rating. They’re highly invested in their own WWE Network & are ahead of the curve in knowing how fans want to access WWE. Major WWE shows still generally sell out with around 15,000 fans in the arena & WrestleMania is set to break an all-time attendance record for the company, with hopefully around 100,000 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Look, I’m not trying to downplay the significance of a television rating. When less people are watching your show, it’s bad. It’s alarming and WWE is probably really stressed out about it.

WWE is without John Cena. In all honesty, being without John Cena is like “Breaking Bad” without Walter White or “The Sopranos” without Tony. It’s not an excuse, it’s just the sad reality.

I’m simply playing devil’s advocate and giving you another angle on this beaten to death topic. Actual wrestling fans…you know, people who love pro wrestling…are doing whatever they can to kick WWE while they’re down. It’s strange to me. I love WWE & all I want to do is help. I don’t want to make jokes about them or continue to bury the product.

Word of advice: if you’re serious about hating on WWE, just stop. Don’t Tweet. Don’t Facebook. Don’t go to live events. Just end it. Just go away. The negativity isn’t good for you. They don’t need you & you obviously don’t need them. That is how you tell them they need to change. Voicing your opinion in a negative way just makes them push you away more because you’re giving them the attention they crave.

They’re like the hot girl that doesn’t like you unless you treat them like trash.

Even at a 2.16 rating, they’re still the highest rated show on USA Network. They’ve powered USA Network to be the #1 rated cable channel for 9 consecutive years at the end of 2014, which is unprecedented.

And once again, they never take time off. Ever. This season is literally the same season it was in 1993 when the show premiered. Not sure if that’s a good thing or something that is detrimental to the product. We’ll likely never find out.

Overall, WWE needs not to panic, but to strategically find a way to improve their television broadcasts. The introduction of new, interesting characters put in compelling situations is the only way to make that happen. And they CANNOT damage these characters beyond repair.

A change in creative direction & presentation is also long overdue. Raw has looked exactly the same from a presentation standpoint for way too long. The genius backstage producers & directors need to work on fresh camera angles, backstage vignette styles & scene transitions. Talent definitely is NOT the issue…it’s the situations they’re put in that is stopping the viewers from tuning in. And they also need John Cena back as soon as possible. To quote Metallica, “you know it’s sad but true.”

There’s no right answer to the question on what exactly is wrong with WWE Raw & their ratings. There are a number of factors.

That’s another article for another time. But for now, it’s up to WWE to evolve & continue to change with the times….

Something they used to be so good at.

Follow @JayAlletto

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