Quote:
Originally Posted by RainMaker
Maybe Jon can answer this but why does it seem so hard for these promotions to get on TV? Seems like we're in an era where cable networks and online streaming platforms are craving any kind of content they can get. I know they don't carry a big audience but a lot of the weird reality shows don't either. Wouldn't a few hundred thousand be a big deal for an obscure cable network?
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Part of that is how many can get "a few hundred thousand"? Impact hasn't seen 200k in a while now. ROH (last on cable in, what, 2015) was in the 100k - 150k range at most. Lucha Underground averaged 130k I believe, and that's if you give full credit for the replay that follows (under 100k for a standalone episode).
So with that, you're talking about numbers that are around a 50th place network. (avg audience 6a-6a) Who are those networks? Here's 45 - 55
pulled from a random week in November: FS1, FSX, Weather Channel, Science, CMT, Tru, E!, Sundance, Nicktoons, Velocity, CNBC
note: I took the lower 6a-6a ratings in order to open up an overnight slot possibility. None of those numbers really warrant prime time on a top 50 network & after the top 50 or so, you really don't have a huge swing between prime and random hour out of 24.
So maybe 3 candidates in that group (FS1, FSX, Tru). If you go all the way down to network 80 you find ... Destination America. There's maybe another half dozen candidates you could find from 50 down to 110th place. I mean, MLB Network, Tennis Channel, Baby First TV, they're not running wrestling no matter the ratings.
Then we come to the thousand pound gorilla: the pushback wrestling gets from advertisers. You're talking about a pretty limited set of candidates, ones that have to be willing to deal with (the image of) violence & other social matters.
So now a network is looking at a limited audience, that's not aligned with the often highly specialized target (unfriendly for crosspromoting other shows on the network), that has a limited pool of potential advertisers (how do ya think Stacker II ended up as a TNA sponsor?)
Advertisers - generally speaking - still think of wrestling audiences as being uneducated rubes, without a pot to piss in. And you can show them all the demographic research in the world but it's an image that is incredibly hard to overcome
unless someone in the decision making loop is already favorably disposed. At the local market level I've had ROH offered to me at times for about 1/10th the typical rate for the same daypart, and even then unless you wanted Men 18-24 very specifically it was not a great buy.
So you end up with a show that relatively few people watch that's exceptionally difficult to sell and carries a p.r. risk.
How many networks are chomping at the bit for that?