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wrestling on TV.
WWF 2-hour magazine for XFL Saturday crowd
By Elizabeth White
People who say there’s too much wrestling already on television can just pour themselves a tall glass of shut-up juice.
Debuting on TNN tomorrow night at 10 p.m. is the WWF’s newest program, "WWF Excess," a two-hour, magazine-style show covering the world of professional wrestling.
The program will replace the current WWF highlight shows, Saturday morning’s "Livewire" and Sunday morning’s "Superstars," and serve as a kind of "SportsCenter" for the WWF, with highlights from the week’s matches, WWF news, interviews with the stars and call-in segments.
But none of these things may be enough to make it a ratings success, despite the nearly unbreakable hold TNN’s Monday night "WWF Raw" has had on the household rankings.
For one thing, "Excess" will be seeking the same audience that failed to turn up on Saturday nights for the XFL this past winter.
And for another, the WWF’s current popularity has shown signs of waning lately.
"I don’t think the WWF franchise can support another show," says Laurence DeGaris, vice president of research at the Bonham Group, a sports consulting firm.
"I think we’re already seeing a downward ratings trend. There’s a decrease in live attendance, which will impact the ratings."
Stagnation with the cast and story lines is one of the reasons DeGaris cites for the current decline, but more significant has been the recent emphasis on televised programs over live events.
"[The WWF’s] business plan has moved away from live events and towards TV. We’re of the belief that TV ratings grow out of live events, especially in the business they’re in, of pay-per-view events that simulate being at a live event," says DeGaris.
"Historically, in wrestling, most of their money comes in from live events. Wrestling has always had up periods and down periods, but there’s always been a core set of fans more interested in wrestling as a sport than as an entertainment," he says.
"What’s happening now is that they’re moving so far into sports entertainment that they’re alienating that core group of fans."
And the Saturday night time slot isn’t going to help in getting back those old fans, or in attracting new ones. On a Saturday night this past spring, one of NBC’s "XFL" games earned the lowest-recorded Nielsen rating for a broadcast network.
"In light of the XFL disaster, you have to question the wisdom of targeting that demographic on a Saturday night," says DeGaris. "If [‘Excess’] is just recaps, they’d be lucky to pull a 2.0 household rating. The other shows ["Livewire" and "Superstars"] are doing a 1.0. If there are no new matches, the show won’t be a ratings bonanza."
Either way, it’s not good news for TNN, which has bet heavily, and so far succeeded, on a schedule reliant on the WWF promotional platform.
A case in point is "Excess," which will anchor TNN’s new young-male skewing "Slammin’ Saturday Night" programming lineup. Other shows on the night will be "Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors," the monster truck show "Monster Jam," and "PBR," the TNN’s professional bull-riding program.
Since the WWF joined TNN, the network’s primetime household ratings have increased more than 40 percent and its primetime adult 18-49 audiences have more than doubled, making TNN a top-10 network in both audience groups.
August 24, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Elizabeth
White is a staff writer for Media Life.
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