10 Most Unthinkable WWE Changes In The Last 5 Years
3. The Ratings Crisis
Here’s where things take a negative turn. In 2011, Raw’s average viewership figure sat at 3.2 million. This was down on the previous year’s 3.4 million, but the figure stabilised at approximately 3 million through 2012 and 2013. Still a huge drop from when the company were regularly pulling audiences of 5-6 million, but significantly better than WWE’s current fortunes.
On 26th Sept, 2016, Raw reached just 2.4 million viewers. It was the show’s lowest rating since debuting in 1993, and while that particular show was going-up against NFL football and a US Presidential debate, things have barely improved since: 2.6 million viewers tuned into last week’s Raw, with a further 2.2 million watching SmackDown.
WWE’s TV ratings are deeply entrenched in the doldrums, and they show little sign of recovery. They have fallen in all but two years since 2000, so a further drop was almost certainly on the cards, but few could have predicted their slump would be as dramatic as this. In terms of viewers, Raw is at an all-time low, and while SmackDown’s ratings have improved since the Brand Split, the blue brand isn’t exactly flying either.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. WWE don’t put as much stock into ratings as they used to, and the ways in which fans consume their product has definitely changed over the years. The company’s glut of post-show YouTube clips means you can essentially catch-up on everything that happened on Raw and SD in under half an hour, for example. The figures are depressing, but they’re not the be -all-end-all anymore.