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JWeinCom on 02 August 2023
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No_Name_Needed said:
JWeinCom said:

I don't think the network necessarily cares about top ten or top whatever, as it would all depend on how much they're paying AEW vs how much money they're getting from advertisers. 

There doesn't seem to be any reason that ratings shouldn't be able to improve as time goes on, if the product is something potential new viewers would enjoy. They presumably have a marketing department so the casual audiences should be becoming more aware of them as time goes on. If Money in the Bank was responsible for Collision's low ratings, then that indicates that a pretty substantial part of the WWE audience is willing to view AEW programming. 

Collision's ratings are improving, which would indicate that people will respond to quality. It still isn't beyond the Dynamite audience, so it might just be current AEW fans willing to watch more AEW, but we'll see if they can get beyond the 900kish cap that they've had for a while. 

When it comes to ratings, a few weeks ago it was actually reported by Fightful Select that Warner Bros. Discovery wants Collision to be at least in the top 5 (I meant to say top 5 in my previous post), and that they are less concerned by the total viewership number. Warner seems to know the numbers are not going to be incredibly high on a Saturday, but if they are good enough for top 5 they are happy. 

As far as a substantial part of the WWE audience willing to view AEW, I don't think that is what is happening. AEW fans are willing to watch WWE programming but not the other way around. AEW fans watch other wrestling like New Japan, Impact and yes WWE, but for the most part modern WWE fans have been unwilling to watch other promotions. Yes during the Monday Night Wars WWF fans did watch WCW, but today most WWE fans stick to WWE programming exclusively. I don't think I'm exaggerating with this.

AEW fans watching Money in the Bank likely led to lower viewership of Collision that week, as will likely happen this weekend since SummerSlam is airing at the same time as Collision. Hell the site I frequent for wrestling coverage had considerably less people in the chat during Collision the Saturday of Money in the Bank, so it would seem some had enough wrestling for that day.

Oh, well, WB knows what they're paying and what they would pay for comparable programming, and what ratings typically are in the top 5, so it's possible they looked at all that and decided top five is where they want the shows at. Although I wouldn't take reports like that to the bank.

Many modern WWE fans are not watching other promotions, but that doesn't mean they are unwilling to. It could just be that those promotions are not putting on products that those fans enjoy enough to watch regularly. Again, the people watching Money in the Bank were WWE fans, unless they were watching a product they are not a fan of, which would be weird. If they are part of Collision's typical audience, then they are also AEW fans. So, you can be both. Pretty much everyone who is watching AEW now is or was a WWE fan, so clearly WWE fans can decide to watch another promotion.

As far as WWE goes, Vince has been away due to health issues and possibly FBI investigations. Raw has been much better over the past couple of weeks IMO so hopefully Vince has a speedy recovery then enjoys his retirement. 

Last edited by JWeinCom - on 02 August 2023