Business factors affecting WWE today.

[ScottishProWrestling]

I am currently studying external factors that effect WWEs market today at university and thought that I would throw a thread out there to see if anybody knows of any major Political (legal changes, laws, banned states, etc), Economic (Recession), Social (Peoples views to wrestling, pay per view tv, etc) and Technological changes (advancements, social media, etc) that have changed the way WWE do business in the last 3 years and where I could source such information?

I thought this might also make an interesting discussion point for those up to the task as well, what direction may they need to go in the future to stay ahead of the game?

[Reflecto]

Probably the biggest advancements in the last few years to change the terrain for WWE would be in technology changes.

One of the primary reasons the WWF broke out of the pack in the '80s was due to the fact that Vince McMahon knew just how to use cable TV to his advantage. By contrast, now the technology has shifted. There's far more cable channels now than there were in the early-'80s when McMahon took over- meaning the cable audience is far splintered. In addition, DVR has been a blessing and a curse- a blessing since Raw and Smackdown frequently have far better DVR ratings than they would live, but a curse because advertisers rightfully know by now if you watch on DVR, you're only going to fast-forward through the ads [and the WWE App has done roughly the same as the short-lived WWE.com Raw backstage videos- a good thing for fans, but not good enough to make Raw and Smackdown fast forward-proof DVR shows.]

In addition, the current technological advancements are far harder to really make money on than there is in cable. Streaming video sites had to be used for free broadcasts [either Youtube exclusive shows or through giving international B-shows to Hulu Plus], with the only major use of giving out streaming content to work in WWE's behalf seen with their deal with Netflix [where they would frequently release the documentary portions of disks to Netflix streaming, but save the bonus matces- in large part a big reason to buy the disks- for the DVD and Blu-Ray.]

The biggest problem is in social media, simply because when WWE focuses on its social media benefits, they get the plus of people talking about it the most [and making it seem to 'matter'- but it's also hard to monetize social media trends, and the algorithm for social media doesn't dictate it (someone saying "#WWE is amazing! This was the greatest moment ever!" and "#WWE, you suck! I'm never watching again!" both count as one point.)

[misconduct was wrong]

I think you could throw in pirating ppvs in there as well.

I'll agree with the above about social media. Businesses stress brand awareness, which social media helps, but when the national perception, and even the perception of your fans is so negative, I wonder how much it helps.

[Wolf Hurricane]

Mar 7, 2013 0:32:58 GMT -5 misconduct was wrong said:

I think you could throw in pirating ppvs in there as well.

I'd certainly agree with this, as well as the first reply. Part of what made shows and PPV's can't miss is that the only way you could usually see them, barring a friend taped it, is if it was live. Nowadays, whole PPV's can be streamed live on a free website or put up on YouTube in a matter of weeks, if not days.