Report: Recent Changes Caused By WWE Feeling Pressure To Increase Ratings
WWE is feeling the heat from NBC Universal and FOX.
If you’ve been keeping up with WWE ratings as of late, you’ve probably noticed that things aren’t going so well. Last week, WWE Raw posted their lowest non-holiday viewership numbers in history while SmackDown had its lowest viewership number since moving to Tuesdays.
The drop in viewership caused WWE to made a big change on Raw, introducing a Wild Card Rule that allows four SmackDown stars to appear on Raw and vice versa. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, this move was made as WWE is feeling pressure to increase the ratings and wanted to add more star power to each show without scrapping the brand split entirely.
Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp started last night’s post-Raw podcast with a major rant on the introduction of the Wild Card.
Along with the Wild Card, WWE stopped uploading videos to YouTube during Raw, instead, they are now delaying the uploads until after Raw. This move was also made in an effort to get people to watch live. Their social media accounts continue to post videos and GIFs are segments and matches during the show.
The rating for last night’s episode of Raw should be out within in the next hour, so we will see if there is an immediate impact. The competition last night was very strong as the Boston Celtics vs. Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets met in NBA playoff action and the Boston Bruins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche vs. San Jose Sharks battled in NHL playoff action.
Check back shortly for a full ratings breakdown.
