WWE viewership 10 years from now

[PorkChop]

What do you think WWE's TV ratings will be like 10 years from now?

They've been dropping for years and most RAWs these days seem to pull a score of about 3.0 on a good night, even before the launch of the WWE Network. Do you see this figure dropping even further over the next decade? If so, how do you think WWE will go about saving their ratings?

[The Legend]

Anyone trying to predict what television ratings and the entertainment picture of how people consume their entertainment is on a fool's errand at this point. It's nice to talk about WWE ratings when trying to make a point, but they don't happen in a vacuum. When you look at ratings across the board 15-20 years ago most products had higher ratings because there was significantly less entertainment options available. Then the expansion and rise of cable cut into those ratings. And within the last five years, Netflix, hulu and other online streaming options have obliterated traditional ways of measuring television viewership and the way things are done.

To predict what options will be available and what ways people will consume entertainment at large and wrestling specifically is impossible.

For example, As horrible as RAW's ratings were last week when measured by traditional standards and if it were in the 90's or early 2000's it'd probably be one of the least watched shows on cable with that number. It was the 2nd most watched cable show last week behind only the Walking Dead among 18-49 YO viewer. That's why when people say wrestling's viewership is declining and it could be in trouble aren't telling the whole picture. Wrestling is still among the most watched TV shows every week, which is why USA Network has no interest in going down to two hours for RAW, because nothing they have to put on in that time slot will draw better.

[Hanley!]

Wrestling is still among the most watched TV shows every week, which is why USA Network has no interest in going down to two hours for RAW, because nothing they have to put on in that time slot will draw better.

This is something that I've wanted to bring up for a while now. This is exactly why USA changed to a three hour Raw. Because the final hour of Raw was always going to do better than whatever they had in that time slot before, and it still is doing better than what they might realistically get to replace it.

However, all businesses are capable of making mistakes, and the USA Network is certainly no exception. We all realise why the network wants a 3 hour Raw, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a good decision.

Ratings have taken a dive since the show moved to 3 hours. Now, the length of the show might not be the sole reason for that, but I'm guessing it's a very large part. It's been the most commonly voiced frustration about the show for the last few years. They're adding more and more filler to the show, which makes it less compelling. And they're not going to manage to replace the viewers they lose, because a three hour show is such a barrier to anyone who might be interested in watching the show for the first time. It's intimidating and off-putting.

How far would the ratings for the first two hours of Raw need to drop to make the gains to the third hour slot not worth the change? And what are the chances that we've already past that point by now? Badly hurting your strongest two hours of television to bolster a third hour doesn't seem like the best move.

I can understand why USA wouldn't switch back also. Even if they concede that the move has cost Raw viewers, if the show drops to 2 hours, those viewers aren't all going to rush back instantly. That's not how things work. So they may just be hoping that ratings level out now. They'd have to take a temporary hit to move back to 2 hours, which they're probably just unwilling to do. But in the long term, I think it might be the right idea.

Either way, I'd definitely say it was a mistake to move the show to 3 hours in the first place.