Monday Night Wars II ?
Nov 4, 2005 14:33:16 GMT -5
Post by floydthebarber on Nov 4, 2005 14:33:16 GMT -5
from www.ivansblog.com/2005/11/mixed-martial-arts-and-pro-wrestling.html
Mixed Martial Arts and Pro Wrestling--- Full-Blown "Monday Night War" on the Verge of Breaking Out?
The face of Monday nights may be on the verge of changing once again, with a full-blown Monday Night War having the potential to break out sometime in the next six months. Information obtained by MMAWeekly indicates that some or all of the following things may be on the verge of happening: A) Spike TV continuing to air UFC Unleashed in the Monday at 10:00 PM timeslot for considerably longer than the network originally anticipated, B) Spike TV continuing to air UFC programming in the Monday at 11:00 PM timeslot even after the second season of The Ultimate Fighter concludes, and C) Spike TV giving the "TNA Impact" pro wrestling show a new timeslot of Monday nights at 9:00 PM, head-to-head with the first hour of WWE Raw.
If all of those things happened, it would be a full-blown revival of the famed Monday Night Wars. Instead of WCW Nitro on TNT providing the head-to-head competition for WWE, it would be a combination of TNA and UFC programming serving as Spike TV's weapons against WWE Raw on USA Network. As was the case with the October 3rd one-night showdown, nobody on the Spike/UFC/TNA side is delusional enough to have the goal of outright beating WWE Raw in the ratings. Instead, the goal would simply be to draw away a significant portion of the young male demographic that often watches WWE Raw on Monday nights.
These moves are being strongly considered by Spike TV management due to a variety of factors. First of all, there's the fact that the Monday night airings of UFC Unleashed have done fairly well in the ratings when you consider their conspicuous lack of promotion, and more importantly these airings have significantly cut into the second-hour ratings growth that WWE Raw typically experiences.
Last week's episode of UFC Unleashed drew a 1.2 overall rating, the show's highest yet in the Monday at 10:00 PM timeslot, and it also drew a 2.2 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. It seems likely that the ratings for UFC Unleashed are going to continue to grow as more people figure out that it's on the air every Monday at 10:00 PM.
There is also the fact that WWE is very vulnerable right now, and Spike TV smells blood to a certain extent because of WWE's ratings collapse since its first show on USA Network. The first episode of WWE Raw back on USA Network drew an overall rating of 4.4. The next week, Raw's overall rating was down drastically to 4.0. The week after that, Raw's overall rating was down drastically again to 3.6. The rating was 3.9 last week, but the normally large second-hour ratings growth was non-existent (the first hour drew a 3.9 rating, and the second hour stayed at 3.9).
At the same time, WWE Raw has devolved creatively over the past few weeks into an outlet for the McMahon family to get its jollies on national television, and the numbers would seem to indicate that I'm not the only person who has that opinion. (The latest example would be Vince McMahon making fun of long-time employee Jim Ross' real-life cancer scare in a seven-minute-long skit on this week's Raw.)
The amount of people who have been turned off of the WWE product in the past few weeks, as reflected in the ratings and the huge backlash to various offensive things that have been done, is a blow to WWE while at the same time representing a huge opportunity for Spike TV.
(RAW ratings go down...UFC goes up...it may not be as cut and dry as that, but I'm sure Vince has got his thinking cap on...)
Mixed Martial Arts and Pro Wrestling--- Full-Blown "Monday Night War" on the Verge of Breaking Out?
The face of Monday nights may be on the verge of changing once again, with a full-blown Monday Night War having the potential to break out sometime in the next six months. Information obtained by MMAWeekly indicates that some or all of the following things may be on the verge of happening: A) Spike TV continuing to air UFC Unleashed in the Monday at 10:00 PM timeslot for considerably longer than the network originally anticipated, B) Spike TV continuing to air UFC programming in the Monday at 11:00 PM timeslot even after the second season of The Ultimate Fighter concludes, and C) Spike TV giving the "TNA Impact" pro wrestling show a new timeslot of Monday nights at 9:00 PM, head-to-head with the first hour of WWE Raw.
If all of those things happened, it would be a full-blown revival of the famed Monday Night Wars. Instead of WCW Nitro on TNT providing the head-to-head competition for WWE, it would be a combination of TNA and UFC programming serving as Spike TV's weapons against WWE Raw on USA Network. As was the case with the October 3rd one-night showdown, nobody on the Spike/UFC/TNA side is delusional enough to have the goal of outright beating WWE Raw in the ratings. Instead, the goal would simply be to draw away a significant portion of the young male demographic that often watches WWE Raw on Monday nights.
These moves are being strongly considered by Spike TV management due to a variety of factors. First of all, there's the fact that the Monday night airings of UFC Unleashed have done fairly well in the ratings when you consider their conspicuous lack of promotion, and more importantly these airings have significantly cut into the second-hour ratings growth that WWE Raw typically experiences.
Last week's episode of UFC Unleashed drew a 1.2 overall rating, the show's highest yet in the Monday at 10:00 PM timeslot, and it also drew a 2.2 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. It seems likely that the ratings for UFC Unleashed are going to continue to grow as more people figure out that it's on the air every Monday at 10:00 PM.
There is also the fact that WWE is very vulnerable right now, and Spike TV smells blood to a certain extent because of WWE's ratings collapse since its first show on USA Network. The first episode of WWE Raw back on USA Network drew an overall rating of 4.4. The next week, Raw's overall rating was down drastically to 4.0. The week after that, Raw's overall rating was down drastically again to 3.6. The rating was 3.9 last week, but the normally large second-hour ratings growth was non-existent (the first hour drew a 3.9 rating, and the second hour stayed at 3.9).
At the same time, WWE Raw has devolved creatively over the past few weeks into an outlet for the McMahon family to get its jollies on national television, and the numbers would seem to indicate that I'm not the only person who has that opinion. (The latest example would be Vince McMahon making fun of long-time employee Jim Ross' real-life cancer scare in a seven-minute-long skit on this week's Raw.)
The amount of people who have been turned off of the WWE product in the past few weeks, as reflected in the ratings and the huge backlash to various offensive things that have been done, is a blow to WWE while at the same time representing a huge opportunity for Spike TV.
(RAW ratings go down...UFC goes up...it may not be as cut and dry as that, but I'm sure Vince has got his thinking cap on...)
