World Wrestling Entertainment's (NYSE: WWE) Vincent Kennedy McMahon wants more viewers for his Monday Night Raw wrestling extravaganza. In fact, he's so keen on growing ratings that he's willing to spend his own money to keep viewers tuned. How much? Try $1 million.
In a terse press release concerning a promotional sweepstakes, WWE says that Raw viewers can register at the company's Web site and then watch for codes during the program beginning next Monday. People will be competing to win a portion of a $1 million giveaway each week for some unspecified time period. Now, before you think me naive, I made sure to see if this was legitimate, and from the looks of things it is. According to this AP article, McMahon will really be doing this. According to other reports, the June 9 Raw will reveal the details of the promotion. The $1 million will come from McMahon's own fortune (again, from what I understand, this is real).
There's no question as to why this is being done. WWE wants eyeballs. Ratings have been challenged as of late, according to that AP piece. I think giving away $1 million is exciting, and as far as a marketing campaign goes, it should boost ratings. Only problem is, I'd have to imagine that long-term shareholders aren't happy that this kind of gimmick has to be employed. Is wrestling becoming boring to people? Are they in need of other reasons to watch? Well, the answer would seem to be a resounding "yes."
There's nothing wrong with a contest. Heck, with the popularity of Deal or No Deal, everyone is looking for a chance at some amount approaching a million bucks. Nevertheless, McMahon and his creative cohorts need to become more creative in the storylines and in the usage of talent. He won't always be giving away money, so the product must stand on its own merit. Besides, although I can't argue that giving money is anything less than an attention-getter, I'll say that McMahon should have a contest where a winner gets to book an entire week's worth of programming. That would really speak to the core fan and bring back viewers who may no longer be watching. There's a lot of competition out there from CBS (NYSE: CBS), Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and GE's (NYSE: GE) NBC, so McMahon needs to be even more innovative when it comes to the contests themselves!
I hope to be watching this Monday to see how the Mr. McMahon character promotes the details. Whatever you want to say about the rest of the product, whenever Vince is on the screen, he's always entertaining.
Disclosure: I own shares of Disney and GE; positions can change at any time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-07-2008 @ 2:34PM
Ozzy TYSON said...
Those who say WWE needs to be more concerned about their content are on the money (no pun intended). The company takes its loyal fanbase for granted by twisting favorites such as the Undertaker up in convoluted storylines. Ex: This guy - regarded by most as more of an icon to the company than Hulk Hogan himself - finally "wins" another championship after a significant absence from those ranks, then loses it due to injury, comes back and wins it again, THEN they present a storyline wherein a conniving "general manager" and her competitor fiance not only cheat him out of the belt, but force his retirement.
Why?
They bring in a 7'4", 420 lb character and make him out to be an unstoppable monster, then he never earns anywhere near a substantial championship reign, in fact hardly sniffs a victory over any other "formidable" opponent.
And out of a two-hour flagship program on Monday night, you get mostly talk.
Ain't gonna get it, and they're gonna find out...