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Post by rocketking on Oct 20, 2016 16:38:22 GMT -5
Survey time...
I assumed after the brand split that I was still going to try my best watch everything. Now three months in, I'm definitely fading fast. Raw and Smackdown are still close to appointment viewing (I won't cancel plans or anything, but I'll try to be home in time from work/errands/etc.), but I haven't watched a full episode NXT since the summer, and my interest in the PPVs has been closely tied to how much I care about the Sunday Night Football game.
I'd guess that we're all probably classified in at least the upper 25 percent of the "diehard fan" spectrum, so I'm curious what everybody else is still watching and still watching live?
(For our purposes, let's say DVR/Hulu count as live if you're still watching ASAP and/or avoid spoilers until you get to watch.)
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Post by demon88 on Oct 20, 2016 18:41:12 GMT -5
There's nothing that I watch live from start to finish anymore - including special events outside of SummerSlam since the brand split.
The oversaturation made an unimportant product even less important. I still listen to my LAW & Observer shows but Raw, SmackDown and NXT are all background noise while I'm doing other things. If I hear something interesting happening, I pay attention for that segment then drift back out. There's just no way most adults with working lives can manage 6 hours of first run programming per week, which escalates to 9+ almost twice a month.
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Post by RKing85 on Oct 20, 2016 23:42:14 GMT -5
watch the special events (although I did miss the last SD one)
Last full RAW I watched was the RAW after Wrestlemania
last full Smackdown I watched was the draft episode.
I do watch NXT most weeks (90%)
Watched every single episode of CWC.
I am just so cold on the WWE product right now. And there is so much good wrestling out there, I'm not going to waste my time watching less than great wrestling. I'll stick with New Japan, Dragon Gate, PWG, Progress, etc. right now.
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Post by hitmanmatt on Oct 21, 2016 0:30:51 GMT -5
In the WWE spectrum, I only watched Smackdown and the Smackdown PPV.
Raw I watch YouTube highlights of great segments the next day.
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Post by Christian Small on Oct 21, 2016 2:33:45 GMT -5
I usually listen to the LAW reviews and if there's a segment they highly praise I'll go watch that. Being in the UK there's no way I can watch live (not that I want to) and I really don't have the time to sit for 3 hours to watch a show that is hit & miss most weeks. I still follow WWE but if I'm watching wrestling it's usually Progress, ICW or WCPW these days. Not even NXT has me hooked any more and that was something I hated to miss not too long ago.
To get to a bigger point I don't know why WWE isn't interesting me. To be honest my biggest complaints over the years were "they're shoving the wrong guys down our throats and I can't stand it". The 2 main event programs they're doing is Rollins/Owens and Ambrose/Styles, who are 4 guys I've loved watching on the indies and when they were pulled up to the main roster. Match quality is usually high on most WWE shows as well so I really don't know why I don't want to watch.
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Post by rocketking on Oct 21, 2016 8:32:23 GMT -5
I usually listen to the LAW reviews and if there's a segment they highly praise I'll go watch that. Being in the UK there's no way I can watch live (not that I want to) and I really don't have the time to sit for 3 hours to watch a show that is hit & miss most weeks. I still follow WWE but if I'm watching wrestling it's usually Progress, ICW or WCPW these days. Not even NXT has me hooked any more and that was something I hated to miss not too long ago. To get to a bigger point I don't know why WWE isn't interesting me. To be honest my biggest complaints over the years were "they're shoving the wrong guys down our throats and I can't stand it". The 2 main event programs they're doing is Rollins/Owens and Ambrose/Styles, who are 4 guys I've loved watching on the indies and when they were pulled up to the main roster. Match quality is usually high on most WWE shows as well so I really don't know why I don't want to watch. I think it goes back to WWE being too accessible, if there is such a thing. I (unintentionally) missed the Sasha/Charlotte main event from Raw a few weeks ago, but I saw it on YouTube the next day. Same with the Ellsworth/Styles match on Smackdown this week. If you subscribe to the Network and don't care about spoilers (and you can probably avoid those if you stay away from social media), it's impossible to miss anything important. The people watching the 90-minute Hulu version of Raw or only watching the major events SHOULD feel like they're missing something. That's how you build an audience - and, in the process, retain an audience. I think I've written this before, but it's a unique problem that pro wrestling has. Most compelling television is either meant to be watched live (i.e. sports) or meant to be watched in order without missing an episode (i.e. Game of Thrones). Pro wrestling is the only thing I can think of where the audience is meant to do both, and it can become overwhelming. |
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Post by Rocky2100 on Oct 21, 2016 9:13:43 GMT -5
I have been losing grasp of the product months ago. Ever since Raw went to 3 hours a few yrs ago, I have been doing the whole DVR trick and tuning in around 9-9:30 and FF through crap that I don't care about. Over the last year, I would estimate that I watch a total of 1 hr of Raw a week because the other 2 hrs is just wasted time. Now with the brand split, I found it to be a easier transition as a fan but I find myself FF through majority of the show as well. Granted, I have a 5 month old and that takes up most of my time but it has gotten to the point where years ago if I missed Raw, I would go insane. Now, I really could care less. I'm just speaking on my behalf but the product doesn't appeal to fans like myself. I consider myself to be a die hard fan that watches through a casual fans eyes. I'm driven by the larger than life characters, storylines, and drama. Now, they try to cater to the hardcore fan that views wrestling as a athletic contest rather than a drama/story. Notice that wrestling used to be referred to as a male soap opera, not so much anymore. I understand this is where the business is going and thats fine, but understand that fans in there 30's like myself are dropping because the product appeals to kids and hardcores, there is no in between. Now that there are a million podcasts out there that review the shows/ppv's, that is pretty much where I get my fix because listening to John and Wai run through the show is far more entertaining and enlightening than sitting through a Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel fued. Just my take....
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Post by kalgoroth on Oct 21, 2016 10:14:58 GMT -5
The only wrestling I have watched live in the last 10 years is when I've actually gone to a show. Time was I used to stay up til 4am to watch a PPV (I live in the UK), now I only really watch the Big 4 and MITB 'as live' a couple days later. Even then I tend to skip through to the matches I know are worth watching. Otherwise WWE-wise I watch YouTube clips and listen to podcasts to keep up to date with storylines. The only weekly WWE program I watch in full is NXT and as already stated elsewhere on this thread that has not become as essential as it used to be. I tend to prioritise NJPW, ROH, PWG and Progress over any WWE event.
Granted my life circumstances have changed so I have less time to dedicate to sports entertainment but even if I had all the time in the world I feel I would still simply choose to watch more of the afore-mentioned promotions above over WWE.
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Post by Gee Hall on Oct 22, 2016 15:21:03 GMT -5
Stopped watching live in 2001 or so. The exception being PPVs
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deezy
Misawa
Posts: 2,334 
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Post by deezy on Oct 24, 2016 18:52:06 GMT -5
I like making jokes on Twitter and other forums, so I still watch live.....watching a replay or a stream doesn't interest me.
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Post by thebenjamin on Oct 26, 2016 10:59:35 GMT -5
I honestly don't know how anyone watches live. I haven't done so since like 2006, but it blows my mind that people could watch RAW for three hours plus live.
I'll watch the big PPV's live but some of the single brand ones are also a bit of a struggle to watch live.
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deezy
Misawa
Posts: 2,334
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Post by deezy on Oct 26, 2016 11:15:08 GMT -5
If most people don't watch any show live, why do we still use ratings as talking points when the metric doesn't reflect that?
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Post by Christian Small on Oct 26, 2016 11:56:32 GMT -5
I fully agree with that. Ratings don't mean anything like they used to. I'm not sure if there's a way to measure DVR viewings but if there is then that should be included in the data.
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Post by gerardgerard on Oct 28, 2016 17:33:05 GMT -5
I fully agree with that. Ratings don't mean anything like they used to. I'm not sure if there's a way to measure DVR viewings but if there is then that should be included in the data. RAW's DVRs are rarely included in most reported ratings, but they're out there intermittently and are solid enough. www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/07/19/711-wwe-raw-tv-ratings-initial-details-viewership-mondays-show/Seem to be averaging a solid 3 to 4 hundred thousand average for recorded viewings, which is a healthy enough increase from the high 1/low 2s there were at in years previous. Granted, it includes all the usual caveats of DVR buffs, but yeah, there's a chunk of wrestling viewers out there that go somewhat under-reported. Not sure how it works the other side of the Atlantic, but the UK, DVR viewings within the first week since transmission are included in the reported rating. |
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Post by jtexas12 on Oct 28, 2016 23:17:06 GMT -5
I cant watch live anymore either, I'd never thought I'd say this, but there is too much wrestling on tv.
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