Real Reason Women Are Changing The Channel On WWE
Women are tuning out of WWE Raw's third hour in droves. But why?
This week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter contains a brief study into a new trend in WWE Raw's television ratings, which has seen teenage girls and adult women tuning out of the show in increased numbers between the first and third hours.
Raw's past two episodes have seen larger than usual first-to-third hour slides in women aged 18-49. That demographic plummeted by 39% this week, while males in the same age group slid by just 4.5%, which is considerably lower than usual. Teenage girls were also down 17.4% between hours one and three but teenage boys increased 10.5%.
What's driving this?
Dave Meltzer notes that Alexa Bliss' current schoolgirl act is a popular theory, though he believes that this has had a negative impact on female viewers for a longer period than just the past two weeks. He then theorises that the ongoing storyline between Ric Flair, Lacey Evans, and Charlotte Flair makes more sense, as 'The Nature Boy' has always popped viewership numbers amongst teenage boys, no matter his age, and Ric dating a woman less than half his age on television may not sit well with women, hence the drops.
Whatever the case, it's definitely a trend worth watching over the coming weeks.