AEW TV DEAL

[twiztor]

2 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

With this new TV deal, Dynamite will surpass Nitro in longevity.

We are pretty close. Pretty sure when we were this many episodes into Nitro we are at/around the New Blood debut, and well, well past the show’s peak

 

yeah i believe it is sometime in April. Coach Tony K has already helmed more episodes of Dynamite than Uncle Eric did Nitro. 

and i really, really love the irony in Eric calling out Tony for "using his daddy's money" when he was LITERALLY KNOWN AS ATM ERIC for using Ted Turner's money. zero self awareness.

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

With this new TV deal, Dynamite will surpass Nitro in longevity.

We are pretty close. Pretty sure when we were this many episodes into Nitro we are at/around the New Blood debut, and well, well past the show’s peak

 

 

42 minutes ago, twiztor said:

yeah i believe it is sometime in April. Coach Tony K has already helmed more episodes of Dynamite than Uncle Eric did Nitro. 

and i really, really love the irony in Eric calling out Tony for "using his daddy's money" when he was LITERALLY KNOWN AS ATM ERIC for using Ted Turner's money. zero self awareness.

Yeah, there was a reddit thread about AEW lasting longer and being more profitable than Bischoff and Cornette's ventures and that was the anti-AEW talking point: that TK has a blank checkbook from his dad.  The tribalist weirdos and Cornette ball lickers are telling themselves TK is being allowed to just set piles of his dad's money on fire to run his own personal TNM.  Ugh. 

[SirSmUgly]

Gonna take a second to prematurely spike the football. A couple of my recent-ish posts from the AEW Ratings, etc. thread:

Quote

w/r/t AEW doubling their rights fees with WBD, the U.S. French Open tripled their rights fees with WBD just days ago: https://www.img.com/sports/our-news/wbd-triples-us-french-open-media-rights-value-in-blockbuster-deal#:~:text=Discovery will take over as,till 2034%2C SportBusiness Media understands.

That still leaves AEW a target for cancellation as Stef said, but I think it's likely that AEW doubles or even triples it's rights fees as WBD tries to show strength and fend off Comcast and other cable providers trying to cut their per-subscriber fees for TNT.

Quote

(I agree with you about the level of advertiser making a massive difference, but I still think 100M/yr+ for AEW is a realistic and even likely possibility considering WBD's attempts to keep subscriber fees up.)

I think some of the arguments that WBD is broke (they are), that AEW is really a niche product (it is), and that advertisers don't pay enough in fees for pro wrestling (they don't) maybe got in the way of the bigger picture - live sports and sports-entertainment still comes at a premium cost and 650-700K dedicated people watching your show live every week is still strategically worth a whole lot to any content providing companies out there. 

(Not meaning to spike the football in anyone's face who disagreed with me specifically, by the way; just spiking the football because I'm usually fumbling on the one with my takes.)

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 hour ago, SirSmUgly said:

Gonna take a second to prematurely spike the football. A couple of my recent-ish posts from the AEW Ratings, etc. thread:

I think some of the arguments that WBD is broke (they are), that AEW is really a niche product (it is), and that advertisers don't pay enough in fees for pro wrestling (they don't) maybe got in the way of the bigger picture - live sports and sports-entertainment still comes at a premium cost and 650-700K dedicated people watching your show live every week is still strategically worth a whole lot to any content providing companies out there. 

(Not meaning to spike the football in anyone's face who disagreed with me specifically, by the way; just spiking the football because I'm usually fumbling on the one with my takes.)

The bigger picture was that if they renewing under their current structure - read, no Max, no streaming, two shows in two dead zones for ads - then there was no way they were doubling their rights fees. Max likely engaged justifies the higher rights fees due to streaming's higher CPMs. Cancelling Rampage and putting a show on TruTV at a better timeslot also helps, but the streaming platform is the key to the higher rates, not anything to do with cable.

[For Great Justice]

3 hours ago, twiztor said:

yeah i believe it is sometime in April. Coach Tony K has already helmed more episodes of Dynamite than Uncle Eric did Nitro. 

and i really, really love the irony in Eric calling out Tony for "using his daddy's money" when he was LITERALLY KNOWN AS ATM ERIC for using Ted Turner's money. zero self awareness.

The Khans (and others that deserve immense respect like Jeff Jarrett) bootstrapped and ran startups as CEO. 100% of their personal skin is/was in the game, and they functioned as business owners: understanding balance sheet, EBITDA, etc.

Eric Bischoff was a middle manager. A successful one for a time that should be commended for all he did launching Nitro and the NWO, but he’s out of his depth when it comes to discussing running a business. He’s not that guy.

[SirSmUgly]

10 minutes ago, For Great Justice said:

The Khans (and others that deserve immense respect like Jeff Jarrett) bootstrapped and ran startups as CEO. 100% of their personal skin is/was in the game, and they functioned as business owners: understanding balance sheet, EBITDA, etc.

Eric Bischoff was a middle manager. A successful one for a time that should be commended for all he did launching Nitro and the NWO, but he’s out of his depth when it comes to discussing running a business. He’s not that guy.

Unless Bischoff is talking television production or cutting TV deals, he's out of his depth. He's not any good as a creative and mostly just signed off on the creative ideas of others (for good and ill). He's not knowledgeable about running a wrestling company because he never did. 

He's just good at bleeding the lines so that he starts out talking about television production and subtly crosses over into talking about running a wrestling business within the same breath, and it's easy to not pay close attention as he moves from discussing something he has expertise in to something he doesn't really know enough about to be taken as an authority in it. 

[COLETTI]

"I will only speak well about Company X if they pay me" is such a pathetic and obnoxious way of viewing the business from so many folks that currently add NOTHING. 

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

The Khans (and others that deserve immense respect like Jeff Jarrett) bootstrapped and ran startups as CEO. 100% of their personal skin is/was in the game, and they functioned as business owners: understanding balance sheet, EBITDA, etc.

Eric Bischoff was a middle manager. A successful one for a time that should be commended for all he did launching Nitro and the NWO, but he’s out of his depth when it comes to discussing running a business. He’s not that guy.

Bischoff wasn’t even a middle manager.  He was a hustler.  He sold meat and ninja star games, parlayed that into an announcer role in the AWA because he looked nice on camera, then moved up from there because he had a background in sales and nobody else was hungry in a failing, family-run organization.  He used that to get to WCW, another failing company filled with people just passing time.  His whole career is that of a schmoozer and hustler with not a lot of real talent, but a lot of drive.  You can actually coast pretty far on that.  
 

Bischoff is like if the Peter Principle and the Dunning-Kruger Effect had a good looking baby.

Edited September 21, 2024 by Technico Support

[username]

On 9/18/2024 at 9:57 AM, Technico Support said:

WON is reporting that Rampage might be done, possibly replaced by AEW Shockwave on a different network.

With the report that SD is likely going to 3 hours... probably not the worst idea to call it a wrap with Rampage.

[Kevin Wilson]

I will say, even as a fan of AEW that is happy they got a good TV deal, that the slow roll-out is incredibly obnoxious haha with WWE we didn't know about their new deals until the day they announced what they were, TK has been slow-rolling this for over two months. And I 100% think AEW/TK is the one leaking it as you didn't see CW or Netflix leaking anything about the WWE deals, it is no doubt coming from the promotion side. I understand the idea of getting hype or interest or whatever but for the love of God please stop and announce is soon plz.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/report-aew-ppvs-to-stream-on-max-in-2025/

PPVs to Max starting in January, according to Andrew Zarian (whose word I'd trust on the matter), so there's the rights increase justification.

[Ziggy]

 

On 9/20/2024 at 2:26 PM, Technico Support said:

 

Yeah, there was a reddit thread about AEW lasting longer and being more profitable than Bischoff and Cornette's ventures and that was the anti-AEW talking point: that TK has a blank checkbook from his dad.  The tribalist weirdos and Cornette ball lickers are telling themselves TK is being allowed to just set piles of his dad's money on fire to run his own personal TNM.  Ugh. 

I don't think Eric or Cornette is Anti AEW as people think. Playing up that Anti AEW stance is so profitable for 2 people that have name value in the podcasting space. I'm sure the style isn't their cup of tea. I refuse to believe they want to See the demise the only competition to WWE after 2 decades. Hunter has been much more opened to bring in people from Bischoffs era to do cameos or other things lately so its not like he has to try to hard  to be so Anti AEW to win them over.

Just like it's his gimmick to be so Anti Meltzer when he used to talk with him back in the day. 

I don't think he's actually bothered by Dynamite outlasted Nitro. It's cool that AEW is still going on national TV but they have yet to get the ratings Nitro did even towards the end. TNA has outlasted WCW but does that make TNA a bigger success.

Even with the low ratings and the low attendance for the live shows, they have done great in other areas and done things other companies not named WWE have done. 

Who knows where they'll be a few years from now. Weren't they out drawing WWE after few years ago. 

Bischoff probably doesn't want them to draw the same ratings Nitro was at their peek and with the way TV is today, the probably never will

[Gordi the recovering AEW f]

1 hour ago, Ziggy said:

 

I don't think Eric or Cornette is Anti AEW as people think.

 

 

Edit: though, to be fair, I agree they are playing it up some. 

 

But I also think there's more than a degree of aggrieved egos and jealousy involved as well.

Edited September 22, 2024 by Gordi the recovering AEW f

[Kevin Wilson]

4 hours ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/report-aew-ppvs-to-stream-on-max-in-2025/

PPVs to Max starting in January, according to Andrew Zarian (whose word I'd trust on the matter), so there's the rights increase justification.

I'd be curious to know what WBD paid for that aspect (even if they just broke down the values internally) since the report says they won't have exclusive rights to PPVs so it will still be available other ways. It will no doubt boost Max some but if people can still buy them other places or just focus on buying a couple a year and thus don't feel Max is a good value, they can't assume they'll get 100,000 new Max subs (just to throw out a number). But I'm sure someone crunched all the numbers and came up with some fancy graph that estimated what having PPVs on Max would be "worth".

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

7 hours ago, Kevin Wilson said:

I'd be curious to know what WBD paid for that aspect (even if they just broke down the values internally) since the report says they won't have exclusive rights to PPVs so it will still be available other ways. It will no doubt boost Max some but if people can still buy them other places or just focus on buying a couple a year and thus don't feel Max is a good value, they can't assume they'll get 100,000 new Max subs (just to throw out a number). But I'm sure someone crunched all the numbers and came up with some fancy graph that estimated what having PPVs on Max would be "worth".

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's because of these factors: 

- It's not about being a new subscriber driver, it's about retention of current subscribers. I mentioned earlier in thread that WBD has been hedging when to start making Max subscribers pay for the B/R Sports add-on, which they've touted as a $10 value. If they go through with it (and with the impending loss of the NBA, they shouldn't), then even the highest subscription rate for Max ($20.99 for Ultimate, plus the $10 add-on) would still be cheaper than buying a AEW PPV at $50 (assuming people don't bother with VPNs).

- Taking a risk on high viewer retention as a push for their ad-based content. I've talked about how picture-in-picture exists as a push by the network, this would be the same thing. Ever wonder why WWE has ad breaks on their Peacock shows? It's because something like 80-85% (numbers vary based on source) of Peacock's subscribers are on the ad-supported tier, and Peacock wants that ad money. Again, sources vary, but something like 25-30% of Max's subscribers are on the ad-supported tier, and with prices rising on ad-free tiers to drive people towards the cheaper option, WBD will want content with high viewer retention. If you're going to lock in viewers for 3-4 hours, that's an awful lot of eyes that stay on your service, which means higher ad rates because it guarantees that the ads will be watched (or on in the background while people go to the bathroom).

That's a fair warning, btw, AEW PPVs are very likely going to start having ads - or placeholder content while everyone else has ads - once this goes through.

This is also why I kept mentioning that Max being in the picture changes a lot of rates calculus, because driving towards streaming content means you can't skip the ads like you could on a DVR, thus making the ad buys more valuable to streaming than they were in cable. Watching live? You have to watch the ads. Watching via archive? You have to watch the ads. Starting at 8:30 and trying to catch up by fast forwarding through the ads? Good luck, the ads are unskippable. Either deal with it or buy the ad-free tier, which streaming companies have sorted out the ad-replacement value on based on average viewing habits and priced accordingly.

EDIT TO ADD: This is also why you see streaming services being given away with other things. Walmart gives away Paramount+ if you sign up for their delivery service and Instacart gives away Peacock, but it's the ad-supported tiers, and the ad revenue made makes up for the loss of subscription access. This is also how Pluto and Tubi are making money without charging to subscribe, because they make more money on the ads than they would with your subscription fee. 

Edited September 22, 2024 by Stefanie Sparkleface

[The Natural]

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/aew-no-longer-offering-pay-per-views-on-bleacher-report/

No more AEW PPV on BR.

[SovietShooter]

So, Swerve went on a popular podcast for Sneaker Heads, and confirmed AEW to Fox. 

"We're about to move. We're about to get on Fox. SmackDown is leaving Fox. We're taking Fox. TNT, TBS, and Fox. We got all three of them things. Tony Khan lets me do whatever the fuck I want. He owns the Jacksonville Jaguars."

 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

On 9/28/2024 at 9:00 AM, SovietShooter said:

So, Swerve went on a popular podcast for Sneaker Heads, and confirmed AEW to Fox. 

"We're about to move. We're about to get on Fox. SmackDown is leaving Fox. We're taking Fox. TNT, TBS, and Fox. We got all three of them things. Tony Khan lets me do whatever the fuck I want. He owns the Jacksonville Jaguars."

 

I'm sure the certain personalities loved the last two lines of that quote. 

[ChesterCopperpot]

There we go

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/aew-stream-on-max-rights-deal-warner-bros-discovery-1236166277/

 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

Edited October 2, 2024 by Zakk_Sabbath

[Technico Support]

I wonder if Dynamite and Collision on Max will do commercials during picture in picture or stay live like the international feed.  

[EVA]

I would start streaming it on Max if they did. I hope that’s an option for Max’s ad-free tier, at least.

Edited October 2, 2024 by EVA

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

2 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I wonder if Dynamite and Collision on Max will do commercials during picture in picture or stay live like the international feed.  

If the NBA on Max is an example, it’ll be a simulcast of the feeds on TBS/TNT, so whatever cable viewers see is what people on Max see. Archive is an interesting question since Max doesn’t archive NBA games.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

To add, $150m is a pretty reasonable buy with the Max component in play. Streaming CPMs are double (at minimum) what cable CPMs are, so the return on investment should line up with that level of buy. I’m interested to see what the PPV info ends up being.

[blitzkrieg]

6 minutes ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

Archive is an interesting question since Max doesn’t archive NBA games.

Would assume that it would be like on-demand replays of AEW where the picture in picture commercial breaks are replaced with on-demand full screen commercials.

They could show the in-ring feed for people on the ad-free plan but I don't think Max is going care enough to bother with that and will just cut the commercial breaks.