Today on 411 they had a news item that the WWE ticket sales have been showing improvement. They support this by saying that tickets to a Smackdown taping at a Target center that went on sale Saturday were selling very quickly.
I have not seen this increase that is mentioned. Next week's Raw at MSG isn't even close to being sold out. The WWE is raising ticket prices through the roof. Next weeks show cost me more money than better tickets to the 2000 Rumble at MSG.
They also claim that ratings are increasing. I'd really like to know what data they are using to support that.
C'mon, it's 411. They are just a small level above the average high school fanboy wrestling site.
These commercials are superfine because they pay for the production costs of putting CHRIS MOTHERFUCKING BENOIT on my GODDAMN TV SCREEN! I will GO GREYHOUND! I am thinking OUTSIDE THE BUN! Dean Rasmussen 8/1/2002 Smackdown Workrate Report
Could a possible explanation for the Target Center show selling out is that they expect the World Champ at the time to have been an alumnus of the University of Minnesota?
Originally posted by skorpio17br>They also claim that ratings are increasing. I'd really like to know what data they are using to support that.
It's the altered state with the two-week-ago 2.7 jumping to a 3.55 due to two major markets actually showing SD! Goes to show you how much of ratings are based on major markets, and how much Presque Isle, Maine makes a dent, eh?
If they're raising ticket prices, that would seem to indicate that there in fact IS more demand. I dunno whether this reported trend is happening or not, but you can't use higher ticket prices in support of the theory that it's not.
gonna build a giant drill and bore straight into hell releasing ancient demons from their sleep-forever spell so they can walk upon the earth and get recituated and run the diet pill pyramid that MC Pee Pants has created
Originally posted by T.R.If they're raising ticket prices, that would seem to indicate that there in fact IS more demand. I dunno whether this reported trend is happening or not, but you can't use higher ticket prices in support of the theory that it's not.
Sure you can! You could be down to the bare minimum of die-hard fans who can be counted on to attend a show no matter what, and who wouldn't mind paying an extra five bucks a head.
I could be wrong, but what I've heard from house shows is that attendance is down, but revenue is up. Less people are going to the shows, but they are spending more money on tickets.
Even if tickets are selling big in a wrestling-hot state like Minnesota. Which elected a wrestler as governor. I can't conclude a trend of increased attendance.
My personal observations is that none of the house shows advertised on last nights Raw were sold out and Raw at MSG next week isn't close to sold out. But, maybe I'm just biching because I spent $97.50 on 2 tickets to Raw and it's more than I'm used to spending.
Ehhh, maybe. But if that's the price at which they make the most money, then the price shoulda been up there all along. If your question is how many (different) people are interested in the programming, that suggests looking at attendance numbers and TV ratings.
gonna build a giant drill and bore straight into hell releasing ancient demons from their sleep-forever spell so they can walk upon the earth and get recituated and run the diet pill pyramid that MC Pee Pants has created
That's one way to go, but the real point you two need to integrate into the, 'Why and when raise ticket prices' discussion is GROWTH. When times are good and the audience is EXPANDING, you DON'T want to push for the very highest ticket price you can get, not because people who have already paid won't pay a little more, but because recent track record shows you're going to be packing in more people at the current price if you don't change anything, like, e.g., raising prices.
When there is NO growth, either philosophy should work (soak the hardcore by raising ticket prices a lot all at once, or gradually upping ticket prices to find where the sticking point of the last guy you pulled in might be vs. reaching out to new fans within current price structure).
When people have been staying away in droves and growth is NEGATIVE, as recently, you've got the long-range project of improving the product AT LEAST back to where it was, running in PARALLEL with 'soak the hardcore.' Also, when you're down practically to counting the fans by name, the approach is gonna vary considerably market to market because marketing becomes, by definition of the smaller audience, more individualized.
Unemployment isn't just for philosophy majors anymore. Useful people are also starting to suffer. -Kent Brockman
Meltzer actually covered the whole ticket price phenomenon on an episode of the Eyada show -- basically, the only correlation that anyone's ever been able to pin down is that lowering ticket prices actually lowers attendance, because fans don't want to think they're watching a substandard (and thus cheaper) product. Thus, when houses are down, the ticket prices are raised as high as the market will support because it makes the fans think that they're getting top-notch product.