The Disturbing Truth Behind WWE's FOX TV Deal
It's too straightforward to say that SmackDown will be in trouble if the show ends up drawing similar numbers to Rel or The Gifted, though. WWE's FOX content will be presented as a sports event, and sports events are attractive to networks as there as the advertising revenue is usually way more lucrative. This means that Vince McMahon's promotion will almost certainly be granted more leeway by their new home. Networks tend to be a tad more forgiving with Friday numbers as well, per "Friday night death slot" theory.
Regardless, it's clear that WWE need to step their game up. They're going to have to start delivering at a higher level if they want to see the FOX deal out, as it's hard to see the network sticking to their wrestling commitments if the blue brand is only serving up 2 million viewers this time next year.
WWE's viewership has been in chronic decline for the best part of two decades. On 16 September 1999, the show scored a 4.5 Nielsen Rating (approximately 5.19 million people); 20 years later, SmackDown has dropped to less than half that. Suddenly, even though the company has never been so profitable, McMahon must find a cure.
Fortunately, recent weeks suggest this Herculean task might not be impossible...
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