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Post by uewfigfed on Mar 9, 2024 6:30:41 GMT -5
I don’t get this ratings stuff. Big Buzz Comin off stings retirement, and a solid ppv, and THESE are the numbers!? Ridiculous, I expected a low to mid 900 this week won’t lie, and this episode did enough to set up forward progression smh This is also why it's honestly not healthy to get invested in these numbers Everything is going great right now, positive PPV buzz, great buyrate, great follow up show, Warner loves the product and loves AEW. Honestly, great vibes, great everything. Then a Nielson number comes out on a chart lacking any context with a lower number than expected, and it's discourse city It's why a lot of people are just fed up with these threads and suddenly needing to find issues especially when the vibes were immaculate before the chart existed. As I said when WWE got their big time extensions and their ratings threads became near obsolete, I really hope AEW gets theirs soon, so these can do the same and they can be locked in for 5-10 years moving forward without anyone worrying about if a lower number every odd week is gonna be a harbinger of doom on Twitter. I’m usually in and out, but have a tendency to check in when I feel the product is swinging in the right direction, and hate to see it not properly reflected in the rating, cuz the ‘drones’ as I call them (even my older brother) live off this talking point
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Post by Mid-Carder on Mar 9, 2024 6:31:35 GMT -5
The only metric I care about is whether I liked the show or not. And I liked the show Same. Tony has to care about it. When I stop enjoying the shows I'll stop watching.
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Post by stoptheclocks on Mar 9, 2024 9:01:38 GMT -5
A weekly reminder that it remains perfectly possible to not engage with a ratings thread if you don't want to talk about the ratings.
So much good stuff happening for AEW, and there are fans legit fed up that a thread exists containing some incredibly mild takes on why this rating wasn't great. Crazy.
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Post by polarbearpete on Mar 9, 2024 11:33:24 GMT -5
A weekly reminder that it remains perfectly possible to not engage with a ratings thread if you don't want to talk about the ratings. So much good stuff happening for AEW, and there are fans legit fed up that a thread exists containing some incredibly mild takes on why this rating wasn't great. Crazy. Happens every time. They’re compelled to click the thread for some reason
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markymark
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by markymark on Mar 9, 2024 12:55:53 GMT -5
The Voices of Wrestling guys touched on this and I agreed. It really wasn't a show designed to pop a rating. Not much announced ahead of time, Okada a total suprise. Fletcher, as good as he is, is relatively low name opponent for Ospreay. Daddy Magic getting squashed. If they really wanted to pop a rating they would gave done something with Sting. Farewell or something. Booked Ospreay with a bigger name. Announced Okada in advance etc.
In comparison to 1 year ago, in 2023 they only promoted Wardlow vs Hobbs for the TNT title which back then it was a big match and that show did 0.29.
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
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Post by fw91 on Mar 9, 2024 13:04:44 GMT -5
Can I ask an honest question? Why are some quick to say that the casual fan is "mythical?" or doesn't exist? Doesn't this prove it? And if it does who cares? Sounds like the die hard AEW fans really enjoy the product right now and low ratings don't seem to effect that.
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Post by daaave on Mar 9, 2024 13:06:07 GMT -5
The Voices of Wrestling guys touched on this and I agreed. It really wasn't a show designed to pop a rating. Not much announced ahead of time, Okada a total suprise. Fletcher, as good as he is, is relatively low name opponent for Ospreay. Daddy Magic getting squashed. If they really wanted to pop a rating they would gave done something with Sting. Farewell or something. Booked Ospreay with a bigger name. Announced Okada in advance etc.
In comparison to 1 year ago, in 2023 they only promoted Wardlow vs Hobbs for the TNT title which back then it was a big match and that show did 0.29.
So not much different? Think point is, this weeks rating is in line with what they have been doing past few weeks. And if they have nothing major or a hot match or 2 announced ahead of time then we can't really expect to see a massive bump from this .26 to .30 range
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Mar 9, 2024 13:39:59 GMT -5
Can I ask an honest question? Why are some quick to say that the casual fan is "mythical?" or doesn't exist? Doesn't this prove it? And if it does who cares? Sounds like the die hard AEW fans really enjoy the product right now and low ratings don't seem to effect that. Because when people talk about the 'casual fan' they often do it with the authoritative belief that they are repelled by X and not watching because of it, but that they have the answer on what those fans do like, and if only they would do that thing, AEW would boom and be successful and good. It's not that nobody thinks there aren't people who casually peek in on wrestling sometimes, don't follow it that much, come in and out. It's the idea there's this big audience who would watch AEW if they took whatever steps suit that person's taste and point. That short matches or less wrestling or bigger bodies or objectifying women are the secret key to wrestling's success, something that is lost when pandering to these dork-ass nerds who actually like wrestling, and that AEW not changing, to appeal to those nerds less, to chase that idea, is a failing on their part.
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Post by Doo Doo is a Ratings Expert on Mar 9, 2024 13:45:10 GMT -5
Yeah, it's when people act like every "casual" fan is the exact same. I have a hard time believing there aren't any casual fans out there who wouldn't be wowed by a Will Ospreay match.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Mar 9, 2024 13:48:38 GMT -5
Yeah, it's when people act like every "casual" fan is the exact same. I have a hard time believing there aren't any casual fans out there who wouldn't be wowed by a Will Ospreay match. There was that Ricochet vs. Opsreay BOSJ match from years back that briefly went very viral online and which I specifically used as a recruitment tool to bring more friends into wrestling. People who had never seen a second of wrestling of their own volition before but watched that anime-ass shit and were just in
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
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Post by fw91 on Mar 9, 2024 13:53:20 GMT -5
Can I ask an honest question? Why are some quick to say that the casual fan is "mythical?" or doesn't exist? Doesn't this prove it? And if it does who cares? Sounds like the die hard AEW fans really enjoy the product right now and low ratings don't seem to effect that. Because when people talk about the 'casual fan' they often do it with the authoritative belief that they are repelled by X and not watching because of it, but that they have the answer on what those fans do like, and if only they would do that thing, AEW would boom and be successful and good. It's not that nobody thinks there aren't people who casually peek in on wrestling sometimes, don't follow it that much, come in and out. It's the idea there's this big audience who would watch AEW if they took whatever steps suit that person's taste and point. That short matches or less wrestling or bigger bodies or objectifying women are the secret key to wrestling's success, something that is lost when pandering to these dork-ass nerds who actually like wrestling, and that AEW not changing, to appeal to those nerds less, to chase that idea, is a failing on their part. See that's where we disagree. IMO that sounds a bit unfair. I'm not trying to deter you from liking what you like but I think the casual fan are the type that want to watch characters be characters and not just who is presented as being a very good wrestler. If that's not your taste fair enough. But I do think casual fans are not a myth.
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jm
Dennis Stamp
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Post by jm on Mar 9, 2024 13:57:41 GMT -5
Because when people talk about the 'casual fan' they often do it with the authoritative belief that they are repelled by X and not watching because of it, but that they have the answer on what those fans do like, and if only they would do that thing, AEW would boom and be successful and good. It's not that nobody thinks there aren't people who casually peek in on wrestling sometimes, don't follow it that much, come in and out. It's the idea there's this big audience who would watch AEW if they took whatever steps suit that person's taste and point. That short matches or less wrestling or bigger bodies or objectifying women are the secret key to wrestling's success, something that is lost when pandering to these dork-ass nerds who actually like wrestling, and that AEW not changing, to appeal to those nerds less, to chase that idea, is a failing on their part. See that's where we disagree. IMO that sounds a bit unfair. I'm not trying to deter you from liking what you like but I think the casual fan are the type that want to watch characters be characters and not just who is presented as being a very good wrestler. If that's not your taste fair enough. But I do think casual fans are not a myth. How exactly do you or anyone else know what the "casual fan" wants? The "casual fan" is not some monolithic thinking group. They are not a collective hive mind. I'm sure they have many tastes as to what they want. Anyone who classifies the "casual fan" into one singular mindset in order to try to get at AEW is being disingenuous at best.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Mar 9, 2024 14:01:32 GMT -5
Because when people talk about the 'casual fan' they often do it with the authoritative belief that they are repelled by X and not watching because of it, but that they have the answer on what those fans do like, and if only they would do that thing, AEW would boom and be successful and good. It's not that nobody thinks there aren't people who casually peek in on wrestling sometimes, don't follow it that much, come in and out. It's the idea there's this big audience who would watch AEW if they took whatever steps suit that person's taste and point. That short matches or less wrestling or bigger bodies or objectifying women are the secret key to wrestling's success, something that is lost when pandering to these dork-ass nerds who actually like wrestling, and that AEW not changing, to appeal to those nerds less, to chase that idea, is a failing on their part. See that's where we disagree. IMO that sounds a bit unfair. I'm not trying to deter you from liking what you like but I think the casual fan are the type that want to watch characters be characters and not just who is presented as being a very good wrestler. If that's not your taste fair enough. But I do think casual fans are not a myth. But you can't actually quantify that. You're speaking about a nebulously defined, conceptual group who would watch AEW if not for A Thing, and authoritatively stating what that thing is, as one single thing. It's reductive to say AEW doesn't have characters being characters, for that matter, but it's even more reductive to nail down one single thing and to say that that's what the people want. Even if you aren't privileging their theoretical enjoyment and demanding AEW change like others are, there's still a world of mass assumptions there that don't have any backing to them. It's just vibes. It's just someone's perceived vibe based off their taste being presented as somehow representiative of a silent majority.
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
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Post by fw91 on Mar 9, 2024 14:15:42 GMT -5
See that's where we disagree. IMO that sounds a bit unfair. I'm not trying to deter you from liking what you like but I think the casual fan are the type that want to watch characters be characters and not just who is presented as being a very good wrestler. If that's not your taste fair enough. But I do think casual fans are not a myth. But you can't actually quantify that. You're speaking about a nebulously defined, conceptual group who would watch AEW if not for A Thing, and authoritatively stating what that thing is, as one single thing. It's reductive to say AEW doesn't have characters being characters, for that matter, but it's even more reductive to nail down one single thing and to say that that's what the people want. Even if you aren't privileging their theoretical enjoyment and demanding AEW change like others are, there's still a world of mass assumptions there that don't have any backing to them. It's just vibes. It's just someone's perceived vibe based off their taste being presented as somehow representiative of a silent majority. It's not about AEW. It's about the industry in general. And just to show that I don't think the casual fan argument is some sort of AEW hit piece, think about this. When were the boom periods in this industry's history? How many 5 star classics were had on Prime time, superstars, wrestling challenge, nitro, saturday night, early and attitude era RAW? It was about the TV show and celebrity like characters. Hell why hasn't WWE ever really seem to recapture the "hot shit" aura they once had? You can be the best wrestlers in the world imo. Casuals want celebrity like figures with schtick.
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Kalmia
King Koopa
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Post by Kalmia on Mar 9, 2024 14:29:16 GMT -5
This is purely anecdotal evidence, but whenever I've shown wrestling clips or gifs to non-fans or lapsed fans, it's always the crazy flips and hardcore stuff that gets the reaction. A guy cutting a 20-minute promo or a big dude hitting another big dude hasn't had a reaction at all.
Therefore, I hypothesize that every single casual fan ever wants to watch crazy flips and hardcore wrestling.
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Post by Mid-Carder on Mar 9, 2024 14:32:11 GMT -5
Why does AEW have to appeal to the casual fan anyway? Part of why I love it is its appeal to pro wrestling fans
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Kalmia
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Post by Kalmia on Mar 9, 2024 14:35:18 GMT -5
Why does AEW have to appeal to the casual fan anyway? Part of why I love it is its appeal to pro wrestling fans Yeah, this is what I don't get. AEW is AEW - it's an alternative to what WWE has been doing for decades. Why would anyone want it to turn into a WWE clone? Just watch WWE if that's the style of wrestling you want. It's perfectly fine to look at what AEW is and decide it's not what you want from pro wrestling. AEW shouldn't change its entire philosophy on wrestling to become something it isn't. I stopped watching WWE because it's no longer what I want from pro wrestling. Maybe I shouldn't and should have instead started demanding that WWE does what I want instead.
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Post by SneakMan on Mar 9, 2024 14:42:41 GMT -5
But you can't actually quantify that. You're speaking about a nebulously defined, conceptual group who would watch AEW if not for A Thing, and authoritatively stating what that thing is, as one single thing. It's reductive to say AEW doesn't have characters being characters, for that matter, but it's even more reductive to nail down one single thing and to say that that's what the people want. Even if you aren't privileging their theoretical enjoyment and demanding AEW change like others are, there's still a world of mass assumptions there that don't have any backing to them. It's just vibes. It's just someone's perceived vibe based off their taste being presented as somehow representiative of a silent majority. It's not about AEW. It's about the industry in general. And just to show that I don't think the casual fan argument is some sort of AEW hit piece, think about this. When were the boom periods in this industry's history? How many 5 star classics were had on Prime time, superstars, wrestling challenge, nitro, saturday night, early and attitude era RAW? It was about the TV show and celebrity like characters. Hell why hasn't WWE ever really seem to recapture the "hot shit" aura they once had? You can be the best wrestlers in the world imo. Casuals want celebrity like figures with schtick. By your logic, why wasn’t the Ruthless Aggression era, which was a clear attempt at continuing the raunchiness and soap opera storytelling of the Attitude Era, a success? Or the Guest Host era, which had cartoonish heroes and villains regularly hanging with celebrities a la Rock and Wrestling? Both of these periods are seen as creative nadirs of WWE when on paper they should’ve been hugely successful. I don’t doubt that casual fans exist, but they’re not a monolith; you can’t just say “casual fans prefer x.” From my anecdotal experience with some casual fans, you know who they’ve been drawn to? Adam Cole (“this guy is small but has a lot of personality”), Will Ospreay vs Ricochet (“this is a shonen anime fight”), and inexplicably Luchasaurus (“this dude is built like a f***ing tank”). Any promos or talking segments have drawn eye rolls and dismissal.
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Mar 9, 2024 14:43:01 GMT -5
Every company wants to expand their audience but you also want to maintain your identity and those don't always go hand in hand. WCW and TNA both suffered by trying to get casual fans because they did so at the expense of their core audience.
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06vwgti
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Post by 06vwgti on Mar 9, 2024 14:45:48 GMT -5
This is purely anecdotal evidence, but whenever I've shown wrestling clips or gifs to non-fans or lapsed fans, it's always the crazy flips and hardcore stuff that gets the reaction. A guy cutting a 20-minute promo or a big dude hitting another big dude hasn't had a reaction at all. Therefore, I hypothesize that every single casual fan ever wants to watch crazy flips and hardcore wrestling. No one wants to sit and listen to a boring HHH monologue. I will question those that do enjoy him drone on
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