Beware of Monday Night... Basketball?
WWE Monday Night Raw ratings took a header this week, in every respect. Compared to last week, total viewership was down 15%, ratings in the 18-49 year-old demographic were down about 20% and 18-34 ratings were down even more than that.
There are reasons, of course. The previous week opened in the glow of a well-received Royal Rumble show, opened with Paul Heyman on the stick and closed with Triple H. This week opened and closed with Samoa Joe.
Samoa Joe has his fans, but he's not a star. That's important right now because WWE is facing new competition on Monday nights from another star-driven business: professional basketball.
Sports fans in the United States may have heard about the National Basketball Association (NBA) receiving a lucrative new television contract. They may not have heard that the NBA only received an incremental increase in rights fees for existing broadcasts. The big money increase was due to allowing television networks to air more hours of live NBA games. (Sounds like a pro wrestling company I know.) One of the new live NBA television windows is Monday nights.
A few weeks ago, TNT started airing Monday night doubleheaders head-to-head with Raw. Last week's NBA games were low on star power. One of this week's featured LeBron James. The 18-49 and 18-34 demographic ratings for LeBron's game was more than 100% higher than the week before.
TNT can't show LeBron James or Steph Curry every Monday. Next week's NBA games feature pseudo-stars Russell Westbrook, John Wall and Damian Lillard. NBA ratings will be way down and Raw will likely pick up some of those stargazers.
WWE has long had to deal with Monday Night Football in the fall. It posed a problem, but not a crippling one. WWE makes their year at WrestleMania in the spring, with winter's Royal Rumble and summer's SummerSlam supplying additional juice.
Monday Night Basketball could change WWE's paradigm. Two weeks before WrestleMania, Raw goes head-to-head with Steph Curry and Kevin Durant playing Durant's former team. The WrestleMania go-home Raw will be up against LeBron James vs. a team that beat him in the 2014 Finals. These are star-driven NBA games that will poach sports fans from WWE's audience.
WWE fans tend to be loyal when big stars are featured in big angles. It could be wise for WWE to plot out March 20 and March 27 as newsworthy Raw episodes, rather than the missable filler that usually runs in the weeks before WrestleMania.
There are reasons, of course. The previous week opened in the glow of a well-received Royal Rumble show, opened with Paul Heyman on the stick and closed with Triple H. This week opened and closed with Samoa Joe.
Samoa Joe has his fans, but he's not a star. That's important right now because WWE is facing new competition on Monday nights from another star-driven business: professional basketball.
Sports fans in the United States may have heard about the National Basketball Association (NBA) receiving a lucrative new television contract. They may not have heard that the NBA only received an incremental increase in rights fees for existing broadcasts. The big money increase was due to allowing television networks to air more hours of live NBA games. (Sounds like a pro wrestling company I know.) One of the new live NBA television windows is Monday nights.
A few weeks ago, TNT started airing Monday night doubleheaders head-to-head with Raw. Last week's NBA games were low on star power. One of this week's featured LeBron James. The 18-49 and 18-34 demographic ratings for LeBron's game was more than 100% higher than the week before.
TNT can't show LeBron James or Steph Curry every Monday. Next week's NBA games feature pseudo-stars Russell Westbrook, John Wall and Damian Lillard. NBA ratings will be way down and Raw will likely pick up some of those stargazers.
WWE has long had to deal with Monday Night Football in the fall. It posed a problem, but not a crippling one. WWE makes their year at WrestleMania in the spring, with winter's Royal Rumble and summer's SummerSlam supplying additional juice.
Monday Night Basketball could change WWE's paradigm. Two weeks before WrestleMania, Raw goes head-to-head with Steph Curry and Kevin Durant playing Durant's former team. The WrestleMania go-home Raw will be up against LeBron James vs. a team that beat him in the 2014 Finals. These are star-driven NBA games that will poach sports fans from WWE's audience.
WWE fans tend to be loyal when big stars are featured in big angles. It could be wise for WWE to plot out March 20 and March 27 as newsworthy Raw episodes, rather than the missable filler that usually runs in the weeks before WrestleMania.
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