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

10. Alternative Consumption Of Media

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?