It’s been nearly two years since Friday Night SmackDown made its debut on the FOX Network to much fanfare. In what would be the return of pro wrestling to prime time, network television in decades, WWE was flying high. They inked a five-year deal with FOX that guaranteed them $205 million annually and $1.025 billion over the course of the contract. Not to mention the prestige of the position and a whole new platform to market themselves. SmackDown on FOX had the makings for huge success.
At the time, FOX executives were thrilled to try bringing the grappling game back to terrestrial television. It was a risk, but one they were willing to take.
They went all out, too, promoting SmackDown with a bevy of clever commercials and print advertising. They made sure the WWE Superstars got as much exposure as possible leading up to the October 2019 premiere.
The Hype for SmackDown on FOX
With a billion dollars invested in the show and millions of dollars in advertising, FOX executives were sure they were about to hit a home run.
“At FOX we are thrilled to welcome WWE to the FOX Sports family and bring SmackDown Live to broadcast television,” Eric Shanks, the COO of FOX Sports, said in a press release at the time.
Also in 2019, FOX stated that they felt like the show would be successful if it averaged 3 million viewers per week.
THAT’S RIGHT… 3 million. PER WEEK.
Fast forward to 2021, and the network cannot be satisfied with their decision now. Smackdown, which they once considered a golden goose, has laid the wrong kind of egg.
The show has never come close to the original figure and typically averages around two million viewers. One episode earlier this year pulled in 1.74. By cable standards, those are decent numbers. But by ‘free TV’ standards? They’re not that great.
WWE SmackDown Viewership Drops Below 2 Million Following 7/30/21 Episode https://t.co/uOa4GPSGNp
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) July 31, 2021
The Importance of Return on Investment
It’s not just about ratings, however. In any business, there is something called R.O.I. – (return on investment). For the amount of money that FOX shelled out to obtain the rights to SmackDown? They haven’t gotten enough bang for their buck.
Almost any TV show would be cheaper to produce than the amount the network pays weekly for WWE programming. Reality television would cost a small fraction of the bill for SmackDown, and would likely produce similar or (likely) higher ratings.
And the sad part is? They’re stuck with this lemon. The WWE deal is not set to expire until the fall of 2024, so really all FOX can do is sit back and hope WWE catches fire again. Unfortunately, that doesn’t look to be happening anytime soon.
So basically, FOX just has to keep dishing out the money, and hoping for a winning lottery ticket.
And as we all know? The lottery has never been a good investment. Nor was SmackDown.
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