Vince McMahon reveals how WWE is going to improve TV ratings
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world hard, and WWE have been affected badly by it as well. The company has had to hold shows in an empty Performance Center, with the use of a limited number of people. This has hurt the ratings for their shows, especially WWE RAW, which has hit all-time lows. But, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon seems to have a plan.
Speaking in the annual shareholder meeting earlier this month, Vince McMahon was asked how WWE plans to improve TV ratings. He sounded optimistic about WWE turning things around, even during these tough times.
Vince McMahon and WWE's plan to improve TV ratings
Vince McMahon said that TV ratings have been affected by "the lack of a live audience," but that "digital metrics and engagement" have seen an increase even during COVID-19:
"We have a 30-plus year track record of creating compelling characters and engaging a variety of audiences, and we obviously remain confident we can continue that with our collective ability, even in the most challenging environments with no live audience.
"Our engagement metrics across platforms are understandably and obviously — however, the importance of linear programming is paramount in all of our businesses — we consistently have seen year-over-year increases in a variety of digital metrics and engagement. And positive trends have continued, even during COVID." (A big hat tip to WrestleNomics for the transcription)
The WWE Chairman revealed that the company's "deep roster of charismatic talent" as well as "valuable promotional inventory from our TV partners" will help the company's ratings in the long run.
RAW's ratings have steadily declined, with the July 13 episode of the show registering just an average of 1.561 million viewers, the lowest ever in RAW history. Last week's show registered an increase, with an average of 1.628 million viewers.
SmackDown, on the other hand, is faring much better, with last week's show averaging 1.912 million viewers.