The value of pro wrestling programming took a major hit by late September when Nielsen changed the way it calculates television ratings. When Nielsen added Big Data to the equation, ratings in WWE and
AEW suddenly fell off a cliff, causing some analysts to throw around the word “disaster” for what this means to the future of the business on TV.
A new article by Wrestlenomics breaks down all the numbers, and it shows that ratings in the key 18-to-49 year old demographic are roughly 20% lower for WWE SmackDown and AEW Dynamite under Nielsen’s new method, with AEW Collision’s very tiny numbers only shrinking by 2%.
The biggest drop of all has happened with WWE NXT on The CW, where a source told Wrestlenomics the key demo rating is 27% lower using Nielsen’s Big Data.
With that in mind, The CW issued the following statement on the matter to Wrestlenomics. The network is extremely frustrated with Nielsen’s lack of transparency, and says the discrepancy in NXT’s ratings shows a lack of credibility in the data.
“We’ve expressed to Nielsen our deep frustration with the way it handled the process, communication, and methodology behind its Big Data rollout.
The sudden and substantial discrepancy in WWE NXT viewership reported by Big Data, relative to long-established viewing patterns, is inexplicable and lacks credibility. Further, a comparison with data from all other measurement products (including others from Nielsen itself) exposes a fundamentally flawed methodology in Big Data. We are disappointed by Nielsen’s lack of cooperation, transparency, and accountability with its network partners as we work to resolve this issue.”
I get why The CW is frustrated and concerned about Nielsen’s massive ratings changes. It’s not rational to believe that the audiences of SmackDown, NXT, and Dynamite all just magically declined by 20% (or more) overnight. This means either the old ratings results were not accurate, the new ratings results are not accurate, or maybe both are not accurate. The bottom line is that it’s understandable why so many wrestling fans might not feel confident that Nielsen’s current results provide a more accurate measurement of how many people are really tuning into these shows.
What do you make of The CW’s statement on NXT’s ratings woes under Nielsen’s new methodology? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
