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Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Dec 24, 2011 16:47:35 GMT -5
Here's an analogy. Lots of people drive, but most of those people don't really know/aren't interested in how the car works. However, there is a smaller portion of the people who drive, "gearheads" if you will, who are very interested in how the car works, read car magazines, compare different models/brands/etcs with a much greater degree of knowledge than the average motorist, even get into debates and arguments about which car is better, etc.
The IWC are the gearheads of pro wrestling.
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Post by rapidfire187 on Dec 24, 2011 17:32:28 GMT -5
I think the whole IWC thing is a term that carried over from the past. There are definitely casual fans that post on message boards and read dirt sheets these days. But back in the 90's that wasn't really the case.
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Post by celticjobber on Dec 24, 2011 17:37:17 GMT -5
When people say "IWC" they're talking about the most hardcore of wrestling fans, who watch every show and read all of the backstage news and gossip, and post on message boards about it.
If every wrestling fan went online and posted about it, this forum alone would probably have 10-20 times the members it already does.
Of course most wrestling fans have the internet, but relatively few go to wrestling websites aside from a rare trip to WWE.com. They're not interested in the backstage wheelings and dealings anymore than they are interested in the backstage drama of their favorite sitcom or drama.
Pretty much every TV show has a hardcore fanbase, and those people make up a small minority of overall viewers. Hell, there's even casual and hardcore Survivor fans (and forums where the fans go to bitch and moan about what the show has now become and yearn for the good old days) and hardcore porn fanatics who do the same thing.
In all honesty, if the horrible TV ratings for Zack Ryder matches and segments are any indication, 10% is far too generous of an estimate. I'd say the IWC makes up more like 2-5% of the overall viewership.
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Post by thelonewolf527 on Dec 24, 2011 17:37:46 GMT -5
They're the vocal minority. They speak the most and at times seem like the only group speaking, but when it comes time to "vote," they're still the minority. That means that if you listen to them, you may be alienating the majority.
However some casual fans are apart of the IWC so it crosses over into the bigger picture. One can't measure how many people are on the internet, but if you look at the amount of people who post on message boards vs the amount of viewers Raw and SmackDown have, it's clear that they're in the minority.
Ex. If every member of the IWC says give Justin Gabriel the Intercontinental Title, it's possible that everyone else who is staying quiet doesn't want him as champion. Listening to the only people speaking makes it look like he's the clear choice, but there's still millions of votes not being accounted for.
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Dec 24, 2011 18:09:04 GMT -5
IWC as the WWE thinks of it = not kids. Period.
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Post by IMPRESSIVE knightwing1047 on Dec 24, 2011 21:50:28 GMT -5
IWC as the WWE thinks of it = not kids. Period. Gotta agree. I think the WWE looks at it with the whole Triple H way of thinking-- Fat, lazy, out of shape morons with no girlfriends who live in their parents' basement and comment about a business they know nothing about. (Yes I've heard him use those EXACT words) But when your stars are trneding on Twitter, which like we said before reaches 1 million fans for Cena, that's what they're caring about. The majority. Not the few of us who, let's face it, love the business, will complain about it but still watch. They're trying to get their stars out to the grand general public and create another boom period. If we make up, 10, 20, even 30% of all fans, we're not paying the bills. They want to reach everyone with stuff like Twitter and Facebook. They're probably hoping to convert us to becoming the Twitter fans too. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2011 23:25:15 GMT -5
The 10% thing died over 5 years ago I think.
Nowadays it seems like as I randomly have acquaintances I find out watch wrestling, they ALL use words like "face, heel, push, job". These aren't people I'm meeting on wrestling boards, these are people I talk to in bars, work with, mutual friends...just random people that I find out watch wrestling.
In fact of the last lets say 50 or so people I've met that I realized watch wrestling, I can't think of a SINGLE ONE that didn't throw around some insider knowledge and terms.
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Post by rapidfire187 on Dec 24, 2011 23:42:35 GMT -5
In all honesty, if the horrible TV ratings for Zack Ryder matches and segments are any indication, 10% is far too generous of an estimate. I'd say the IWC makes up more like 2-5% of the overall viewership. Okay like...the first episode of Z True Long Island story has over 615,000 views. On average, RAW gets around 4 million viewers. That's a hell of a lot more than 2-5%.Then again, it's hard to pinpoint how many of those views came from before Ryder started getting pushed on TV. Then you also have to consider that not everybody in the IWC even likes Ryder. I like him enough, but I've never bothered watching his youtube videos. I'm certainly not the only one in the IWC that hasn't contributed to his following... I guess what I'm getting at is that you have no more of an idea of what portion of the audience is "IWC" as anyone else. The only way to really tell is if WWE heavily promoted a poll asking "Do you read or post about WWE on unofficial forums and websites?". Actually, I think that would be a very smart move on their part. |
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Post by AztecaDragon on Dec 24, 2011 23:50:22 GMT -5
If we make up, 10, 20, even 30% of all fans, we're not paying the bills. They want to reach everyone with stuff like Twitter and Facebook. They're probably hoping to convert us to becoming the Twitter fans too. They're not trying to reach everyone. They'd at least try not to make it such a blatantly insulting White Male Power Fantasy thing if they were... They've got their sights set on a particular type of fan and it surely isn't me. |
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Post by lildude8218 on Dec 25, 2011 0:43:52 GMT -5
Here's an analogy. Lots of people drive, but most of those people don't really know/aren't interested in how the car works. However, there is a smaller portion of the people who drive, "gearheads" if you will, who are very interested in how the car works, read car magazines, compare different models/brands/etcs with a much greater degree of knowledge than the average motorist, even get into debates and arguments about which car is better, etc. The IWC are the gearheads of pro wrestling. I was going to say that the comparison that is being made is like saying that everyone that drives a car is a car enthusiast. |
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Post by jadison on Dec 25, 2011 0:56:28 GMT -5
When people say "the internet fans", they mean the ones on message boards talking about who's getting heat, about how the booking is, etc. It's disingenuous to just say "well everyone has the internet!"
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Post by thelonewolf527 on Dec 25, 2011 1:44:25 GMT -5
In all honesty, if the horrible TV ratings for Zack Ryder matches and segments are any indication, 10% is far too generous of an estimate. I'd say the IWC makes up more like 2-5% of the overall viewership. Okay like...the first episode of Z True Long Island story has over 615,000 views. On average, RAW gets around 4 million viewers. That's a hell of a lot more than 2-5%.Then again, it's hard to pinpoint how many of those views came from before Ryder started getting pushed on TV. Then you also have to consider that not everybody in the IWC even likes Ryder. I like him enough, but I've never bothered watching his youtube videos. I'm certainly not the only one in the IWC that hasn't contributed to his following... I guess what I'm getting at is that you have no more of an idea of what portion of the audience is "IWC" as anyone else. The only way to really tell is if WWE heavily promoted a poll asking "Do you read or post about WWE on unofficial forums and websites?". Actually, I think that would be a very smart move on their part. You can view a YouTube video more than once and prior to Zack being on tv so often, his videos all averaged about 100,000 views, but not right away. But let's say they do average 100,000, let's do the math: 100,000/4,500,000 is 2.2%. Let's assume that .2% of those people watch but don't care about message boards and only watch because they like Zack Ryder, that's 2% right there. |
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