Update on WWE Raw TV Rights and how AEW may be affected
Update on WWE Raw TV Rights and how AEW may be affected in todays Wrestling news
WWE executives met WBD earlier in the week.
The WWE Raw and AEW rights renewing will be two of the biggest pro wrestling news stories in the coming year.
Analysts have always believed that NBCU (USA), Disney FX, Amazon Prime, and WBD are all potential suitors of the show, which will begin its 32nd season in a few short weeks. WBD’s affiliation with AEW was always viewed as a longshot. Word was spreading that WBD had dropped out of the running by October.
Mark Shapiro, Nick Khan and Paul Levesque from Endeavor met with WBD Monday morning.
Punk was mentioned in a report as a key part of the pitch. The idea was that he would be a regular for the Raw brand. The report included pushing his merchandise and social media views, along with ratings for recent shows.
AEW is affected by this situation, as it has been in discussions with WBD about a variety of deals, including streaming, besides television rights renewals. WBD gets a share of AEW’s streaming PPV purchases through Bleacher Report.
There is also the belief, though it has never been acknowledged, that WBD owns AEW points. Tony Khan never denied this when asked. He only said that he had 100 percent of the decision-making and voting power.
The new WWE ownership does not include Vince McMahon. Therefore, the attempt to obtain brand exclusivity may not be there. Endeavor negotiated the UFC’s contract to be on ESPN. PFL, another rival promotion, also had the opportunity to be on ESPN and ESPN+. PFL has just renewed this deal. The CW deal for NXT did not include exclusivity for the wrestling genre. It is unclear whether WBD would want to have two wrestling franchises.
Tony Khan has always been loyal to WBD. He even said that in negotiations for the new deal, he would remain with WBD even if a different entity offered slightly higher money. After purchasing ROH, he made it clear that he would only sell it to WBD stations. They didn’t take him up on the offer. Tony Khan confirmed what Nick Hausman had reported. Khan said that he could legally sell ROH TV rights outside of the WBD family but would not have done so out of loyalty at the time.
These negotiations are difficult to predict. SmackDown’s move to USA Network in October was a very predictable decision. It was the clear favorite. NXT’s move to CW was a surprise. Levesque missed Raw two weeks ago to attend a meeting with a potential show suitor. This would indicate that the talks were serious at that point.
In the UFC deal of more than a decade, everyone thought it was going to be with NBC until it was revealed that it was with Fox. Dana White recently explained that the UFC was ready to sign a deal with NBC but that Vince McMahon’s WWE contract with USA, which would have aired most of the programming, required his approval. He didn’t, and the NBC contract was dead.
As far as Raw’s future, until an announcement is made, there is no certainty. There are many other possible repercussions for late 2024. For example, the channels WWE will be broadcast on and the days the shows will air. SmackDown on a Friday would not make sense, considering the amount USA paid for the program and the fact that the number of viewers on television on Friday is much lower than on Sunday through Thursday. It would not be in the best interest of AEW to be on Raw or SmackDown.
It is also interesting to hear about Raw moving away from Monday. It’s Monday tradition is so long-standing that changing it would be a risk. It takes a hit each year for several weeks because of the NFL.
The most interesting thing is that WBD talks about Raw because of the repercussions. It seemed so unlikely at first that even analysts mentioning it repeatedly was ridiculed.
This year, WBD has added a new show and increased the rights. They also signed AEW on an exclusive contract. In recent weeks, it has consistently approved the live shows to go long so that main events do not have to be rushed. Dynamite is usually ranked between No. 2 and No. 3 even though it doesn’t do Raw numbers. While not doing Raw numbers, Dynamite usually ranks between No. The cable rankings for the week place Raw at No. 6 in the entertainment category, a category in which it usually ranks first.
The addition of CM Punk boosts Raw’s potential ratings. The early shows were boosted and the impact is likely to diminish over time. Some will point out Monday’s lower numbers and say that it’s already normal. But the Punk segment, with Seth Rollins, had 1,881,000 viewers, and a 0.62 among 18-49. This was far above the rest. Raw, just like Dynamite, usually loses viewers over time. However, the drop in viewers of 626,000 and 0.22 between the Punk quarter and the last quarter, was so much more than usual. The show would have performed far worse compared to the competition if the storyline about him announcing where he was going had not been included. We will have to wait until the end of football season to see how the ratings will be affected in the long-term.
WWE is hoping for a massive increase in Raw rights with the new deal. A 50 percent increase or more would amount to $398 million, and even a 40% increase would amount to $371 million.
It is valuable to have the No. AEW Dynamite, the No.
If AEW gets 55 percent of Raw’s 18-49 ratings – and this is likely to be within a few percentages of where it is now on a year-round basis – then Dynamite would cost around $50 million in 2023 rights fees, and the option years would increase that. Raw has three hours instead of two, so its price per minute would be between $124 million and $133 million. Dynamite’s price for the coming year could be around $30 million per hour. Even if the next deal increased to $90 million (45 million per hour), it would still deliver 55 percent of 18-49 year old viewers for 25 to 36 percent less.
A recent Werstlenomics survey of household incomes of wrestling show viewers from January to November found that the median household income for Dynamite is the highest in the United States. The $61,500 figure is 13.3 percent more than the Raw household. This means that the theoretical value for its viewers should be much higher.
There are a lot of factors at play, from the days that the shows air to how valuable it is to have the highest rated non-sports program in your portfolio. This comes at a price that is so high that Fox, a major network, decided to give up SmackDown for a lower cost because they felt that they had lost too much money. SmackDown is the most popular wrestling show, and it wins on Friday nights.
Update on WWE Raw TV Rights and how AEW may be affected in todays Wrestling news, Chatalong Chatbox, Results will be Hidden inside a spoiler Button so you will not bet spoiled about direct results.
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