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AEW/ROH Finances, Ratings, etc.


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Presumably, many fans think “developmental” means “I’ve never heard of this Indy guy,” even if they’ve been around for years. That said, whether you consider someone whose wrestled for years but only has less than 100 matches is a different argument. 

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JD Drake is teaming with Anthony Henry now. Pretty Wheeter Yutalon's tag partner is Cezar Bononi.

(It's a running joke on the other Discord that short haired Avalon looks like Wheeler Yuta's dad).

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Staying steady through the first 45 minutes when it was almost all action and no real commercial breaks, then starts cratering once the show goes talk heavy. Killing the BCC heat and pushing the Dark Order as more than beloved jobbers isn't popping numbers either.

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c. 1 in 4 viewers tuning out within 90 mins & the demo down 25% on a YOY comparison. More & more quarter hour segments falling into the 700kish viewer abyss. Hey, just extend the Moxley/Hangman feud ad infinitum: that'll work. Get a proper scheduler and character-planner in, ❄️

Edited by A_K
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Every wrestling show declines from the start of the episode until the end. That is normal now.

The year-over-year demo drop is the real issue. Something like 5 million households cut the cord in 2022, so everything's* numbers have dropped. The question is if Dynamite's drop is less or more than average.

*Everything except, believe it or not, WWE. Raw and Smackdown are both UP year over year, which is a pretty huge achievement in this climate.

ETA: THR says cable lost 5.8 million subscribers in 2022, which works out to be something around 10-15%. So Dynamite's drop, if it's really 25%, is outpacing the cable exodus in general.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/cord-cutting-2022-cable-pay-subscriber-losses-1235340253/

Edited by Dog
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1 hour ago, Dog said:

Every wrestling show declines from the start of the episode until the end. That is normal now.

The year-over-year demo drop is the real issue. Something like 5 million households cut the cord in 2022, so everything's* numbers have dropped. The question is if Dynamite's drop is less or more than average.

*Everything except, believe it or not, WWE. Raw and Smackdown are both UP year over year, which is a pretty huge achievement in this climate.

ETA: THR says cable lost 5.8 million subscribers in 2022, which works out to be something around 10-15%. So Dynamite's drop, if it's really 25%, is outpacing the cable exodus in general.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/cord-cutting-2022-cable-pay-subscriber-losses-1235340253/

For Smackdown, it being on FOX which is Broadcast TV rather than Cable definitely lends some explanation of why it didn't drop. Couldn't tell you why for RAW on USA.

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2 hours ago, Dog said:

Every wrestling show declines from the start of the episode until the end. That is normal now.

The year-over-year demo drop is the real issue. Something like 5 million households cut the cord in 2022, so everything's* numbers have dropped. The question is if Dynamite's drop is less or more than average.

*Everything except, believe it or not, WWE. Raw and Smackdown are both UP year over year, which is a pretty huge achievement in this climate.

ETA: THR says cable lost 5.8 million subscribers in 2022, which works out to be something around 10-15%. So Dynamite's drop, if it's really 25%, is outpacing the cable exodus in general.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/cord-cutting-2022-cable-pay-subscriber-losses-1235340253/

You have to look at the demographics of who's cutting cords vs. the demos AEW pulls. The drops in the key demo? That's more in line with cord cutting, because you've got to assume those cutters are younger. Hell, for the first year of Dynamite I watched it live, pirated. AND I WATCHED EVERY AD! Cause I couldn't change the channel without having to re-set my cast! If only the TV execs new that shady Eastearn European sports streaming sites is the best medium for their advertisers.

WWE's rise vs AEW's decline is obviously more concerning. I'm not here to argue that we've been on an inconsistent stretch of TV, although I think the fanbase is spoiled for good episodes and that psycho WWE homers have never been more emboldened and vengeful. The discourse around the products is embarassing in most corners of the internet and it distorts the view. It also proves a mundane and overlooked theory -

1 - A fraction of the initial AEW viewership was on board because they wanted a weekly wrestling show but couldn't take incompetent WWE TV.

2- WWE TV becomes competent.

3. These fans don't have time for both companies and revert to the more familiar/ingrained WWE, eliminating their initial need for AEW.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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And I think the overarching problem now is going to be whether or not AEW's performance justifies an increased rights fee from Warner Bros. Discovery.

People can throw out "Tony Khan has endless money and will run AEW forever!" all they want, but if the company ends up with a worse timeslot or on a worse network, it might not be worth it to him. Then your company is just a corpse that exists in limbo and isn't relevant in the mainstream like IMPACT.

Tony needs to delegate booking to others - it's starting to feel like he's so overwhelmed by booking 8+hours of weekly television that he's letting too many guys get in his ear with bad suggestions and the end result is a shitshow. I know a lot of us on the board watch AEW Dark, but for Tony to start referencing Dark storylines on Dynamite just confuses a majority of viewers who don't.

At the very least, hire some industry veterans to watch the weekly shows and do a Zoom meeting where they can critique what you're doing wrong.

Edited by Dolphman 3000
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WBD just gave AEW a reality show and somehow believes (or wants us to believe) they bring 4 million people to the network every Wednesday. They're getting a huge rights increase. I put the over/under at 3x.

EDIT: It shouldn't need to be repeated at this point, but -- even though Dynamite is down from where it was this time last year, it's still #1 or #2 on cable almost every Wednesday, losing only to real sports. And WBD has to do nothing to develop this juggernaut, other than throw money at it. If you're a TV executive, that's about as close to ideal as you can get.

Edited by Dog
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Warner Brothers has no reason to be upset with AEWs ratings. Power Slap, which has a much more established and known owner, closed its season with 225K viewers. They’re not going to get WWE money but they’ll get a new contract 

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