RAW Rating

[BHK 0]

Ah yes, that's it I bet. The NBA playoffs. That seems to be a perfectly logical explanation to me.

[Guest Super Pissed Smark]

I have always believed in  only two things regarding the raitngs:

 

1) Short term ratings mean nothing. Long term ratings mean everything. I don't care if Raw does a 2.0 one week, if it averages a 3.5 or above over a 6 week span, that 2.0 was a blip.

 

2) The ratings reflect the product. Not the fact that football was on, not the fact that the olympics are going on, not the fact that there was a finale of reality show X on. they reflect the qwuality of the product. period.

 

If you put on an excellent product, they will come.

I agree with everything you say here, except the football bit. If you look at the list you linked to, and compare Augusts to Septembers, in every year, excepting 1999 when ratings were at their peak and people couldn't stop watching Austin and Rocky and co., there's been a definite drop every year when the NFL comes on. Then glance at December vs. January ratings. Once MNF goes away, there's a definite spike, particularly in the really hot 1999 and 2000 years.

 

And my memory is coming back a bit and I'm almost positive Nitro did sometimes go to a one-hour show at 7pm as a lead-in to NBA playoffs, which must've really killed them on the west coast.

[Mole 0]

This won't be popular around here, but ULTIMATE WARRIOR made the ratings double when he returned. If some want to doubt this look at the ratings after he was sent packing.

Warrior might have boosted ratings, but he wasn't a "draw."

 

A * next to the ratings winner.

 

6/1 - Nitro 3.7 : *Raw 4.4

6/8 - Nitro 4.0 : *Raw 4.3

6/14 - .75: GAB Buyrate

6/15 - Nitro 4.0 : *Raw 4.3

6/22 - Nitro 4.1 : *Raw 4.3

6/29 - Nitro 4.1 : *Raw 5.4

 

7/6 - *Nitro 4.8 : Raw 4.0

7/12 - 1.50: Bash at the Beach Buyrate

7/13 - Nitro 4.5 : *Raw 4.7

7/20 - Nitro 4.7 : *Raw 5.0

7/27 - Nitro 4.7 : *Raw 4.9

 

8/3 - Nitro 4.2 : *Raw 4.9

8/8 - .91: Road Wild Buyrate, first PPV before Warrior

8/10 - *Nitro 4.6 : Raw 4.5

8/17 - *Nitro 4.9 : Raw: 4.7 (Warrior's debut.)

8/24 - *Nitro 5.2 : Raw 4.7

8/31 - Nitro 6.1 : No Raw

 

9/7 - Nitro 5.5 : No Raw

9/13 - .70: Fall Brawl Buyrate, first PPV with Warrior and he was in the ME.

9/14 - *Nitro 4.5 : Raw 4.0

9/21 - Nitro 3.9 : *Raw 4.0

9/28 - *Nitro 4.6 : Raw 4.0

 

10/5 - Nitro 4.5 : *Raw 4.6

10/12 - Nitro 4.6 : *Raw 4.8

10/19 - Nitro 4.4 : *Raw 5.0

10/25 - .78: HH Buyrate, headlined by Warrior/Hogan and DDP/Goldberg.

10/26 - *Nitro 5.1 : Raw 4.5 (Last Nitro with Warrior)

 

11/2 - Nitro 4.1: *Raw 4.8 (First Nitro without Warrior)

11/9 - Nitro 4.1 : *Raw 5.0

11/16 - Nitro 4.3 : *Raw 5.5

11/22 - .75: Buyrate for WWIII, first PPV without Warrior

11/23 - Nitro 4.5 : *Raw 4.9

11/30 - Nitro 4.2 : *Raw 5.0

 

12/7 - Nitro 4.2 : *Raw 5.2

12/14 - Nitro 4.2 : *Raw 5.2

12/21 - Nitro 4.0 : *Raw 4.7

12/27 - 1.15: Buyrate for Starcade

12/28 - Nitro 4.6 : *Raw 4.9

 

1/4 - Nitro 5.0 : *Raw 5.7

1/11 - Nitro 5.0 : *Raw 5.5

 

Average Rating (11 weeks) before Warrior - Nitro 4.3 : Raw 4.6

Average Rating (11 weeks) with Warrior - Nitro 4.8 : Raw 4.5 (9 weeks)

Average Rating (11 weeks) after Warrior - Nitro 4.3 :Raw 5.1

 

Average Buyrate (2 PPVs) before Warrior - 1.2

Average Buyrate (2 PPVs) with Warrior - .74

Average Buyrate (2 PPVs) after Warrior - .95

 

When Nitro had Warrior, their average rating for 11 weeks jumped .5. In those 11 weeks, Nitro won 5 nights to Raw's 4 (not including the 2 weeks there was no Raw). Before Warrior showed up, Nitro only won 2 nights to Raw's 9. And after Warrior left, Nitro didn't win any nights while Raw won all 11.

 

Warrior did help boost Nitro's ratings. The first 6 weeks Warrior did help boost the ratings (5.0), to Raw's 4.4 (4 weeks because it was pre-empted). The final 5 weeks, Nitro and Raw's ratings average was the same (4.6). From these numbers it would seem that Warrior only boosted ratings for a short time, and his appeal was lost.

 

Plus the fact that Warrior didn't boost buyrates when he was headlining them, WCW made more money off of PPVs than Nitro. I don't remember how much money they paid Warrior, but he wasn't really a ratings success and was just a big waste.

 

Not to mention he couldn't wrestle for his life and his hidden doors only caused wrestlers to be injured.

[Promoter 0]

I was actually talking about Warrior's wwf return at WM 12. The hype and after effects had people interested. Warrior doubled raw's rating after WM 12. I think he main evented against Kane(oops Isaac Yankem) on one of the shows. I could be wrong, but that is from my memory back in the day when he returned. At first, Vince was okay when Hall and Nash left since he brought back Ultimate Warrior who had a stronger presence. His wcw run was horribly handled and yeah his time was up. It got off to a great start with his promo against Hogan(the match blew as we know).

[Mole 0]

Oh, well then.

 

I'm too lazy to check out those ratings. That took me a while to put together, so yeah.

[Guest Tjhe CyNick]

I think one of the big problems right now is the fact that they have two sets of championships. Right now they have 8 titles, and one of another seems to change hands every couple of weeks. Even the world titles change hands pretty frequently (either the RAW or SD title), so just because Orton won the title I dont think that would be a big ratings booster as it would have been back when there was just one title.

 

I know they probably wont end the brand extension because it allows them to add more PPVs and do more international events (which bring in a lot of revenue) but I really think they should consider having only one World Champion, and maybe even one tag champ as well.

 

At least that way the World Champ seems even more prestigious because they get to go between both shows, and also it creates a lot more fresh matchups. Just using Orton as an example, he would have potential matches with Angle, Eddie and Cena added to the list of guys on RAW.

 

This would also open up more storyline possibilities because if you take these brand specific shows they have coming up the World Champ would be stretched thin because he would have to work Unforgiven in Sept, No Mercy the beginning of Oct and taboo Tuesday in Oct as well. By the time Taboo tuesday they could take about burnout for the champ, and that could be used as part of an angle. But the bottom line is that it would make it clear who the top guy in the comapny is which I believe would help.

[Promoter 0]

I've actually thought about that a few times. The argument against the undisputed champ scenario by some is that it leaves one brand without the world champion for a month(my solution would be increasing the level of the secondayry title for that off month). Another problem people see is if the champ shows up on both shows one show will be lacking since the champ wouldn't have a championship storyline because the other brand has to get the attention with the ppv. Not to forget the wwe wants to add ppv each month for both brands next year.