10 Reasons WWE's Audience Has Dropped 20% In 12 Months

Dave Scherer of PWInsider recently revealed the news that WWE's audience share had dropped a dramatic 20% since this time last year. 'News' is maybe pushing it a bit - few, if any, are unaware of the company's obvious troubles when it comes to TV. But the scale of the problem caught quite a few off guard.

Let's be clear here: WWE aren't imperiled by any means. Network subscriptions continue to be a healthy revenue stream, with live events and merchandising proving significant tributaries to the cash flow. But such an enormous drop in TV viewers isn't something to be taken lightly; as those watching dwindles, so too will the size of WWE's USA contract when it next comes up for renewal.

It's hard to put one's finger precisely on why WWE have experienced such a mammoth loss - analysts within the company itself far more qualified (and well-paid) than I will have been wracking their brains on that crisis for some time now. So far, sans solution.

Fact is, there is no single reason WWE are in the doldrums. My business credentials may be on par with Irwin R. Schyster's, but its just enough to point out at least some of the contributing factors.

The way the US watches television is changing. According to a study conducted by Nielsen, observing six years of American viewing habits, the time spent watching programmes on the box by WWE's key 18-24 demographic fell by an astonishing 39% between 2011 and 2016. In real terms, this equates to a decrease by ten hours per week, roughly one-and-a-quarter hours per day.

The study factored time-shifted viewing (DVR, for example) into its findings, the conclusion being that television audiences had gradually migrated to more practical or accessible means of consuming content - particularly via the internet and mobile platforms. This is a problem which has affected the traditional TV model as a whole, and not just WWE, with the only genres apparently immune being news and sports - both notable for their live nature.

Obviously, people changing their viewing habits can't entirely explain the dramatic drop in the company's audience by 20% in just twelve months. The same data revealed that year-on-year traditional TV watching had fallen by only 7.03% between Q4 of 2015 and the equivalent period of 2016, with the general trend remaining constant. But it's definitely a contributing factor.

Raw and SmackDown remain exclusive to cable television at present (Hulu reruns are taken into account by Nielsen), and for an audience gradually relying on other means of obtaining their favourite product, how many are prepared to sacrifice five hours a week in front of a box?