Dave Meltzer Analyzes Fox & WWE Not Renewing SmackDown Rights Deal
September 6 marked the end of an era for "WWE SmackDown," as the show's run on FOX came to a close after five years. WWE's blue brand will be moving back to USA Network on September 13, with the show's season premiere featuring Cody Rhodes defending the Undisputed WWE Championship against Solo Sikoa in a rematch from SummerSlam's main event, only this time it will take place inside a Steel Cage.
In ratings, "SmackDown" was outdrawing every other wrestling show on TV, regularly earning over two million viewers, and at times averaging more viewers than both "WWE Raw" and "WWE NXT" put together, so why move? In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer detailed the four main reasons why "SmackDown's" run on network television has ended.
The main reason is very simple, money. Meltzer claims that after looking at the financial records, FOX was losing over $200 Million per year, and WWE wanted a 50% increase on their original deal, which FOX simply couldn't justify, ending discussions fairly quickly. WWE did get a 40% increase from USA Network, who felt like the money WWE wanted for the rights to "Raw" wasn't worth it, that figure being nearly $400 Million. However, since "SmackDown" is a two-hour show, USA were able to chop a third of that money off and secure the rights, with USA needing WWE's numbers to maintain ratings levels.
Advertising also played a part in the move
Advertisers and the money that comes with them play a huge role in media rights deals, as the revenue made by ads needs to be enough to warrant spending such a large amount of money over a five-year span. This is another reason why "SmackDown's" FOX run ended, as Meltzer stated that even though its ratings were strong and regularly ranked first in the key 18-49 demographic, "SmackDown" viewers actually ranked last in household income among the major wrestling shows, and a 30-second ad only earned FOX around $47,000. That is far below what network television shows are expected to make, hence why FOX was so hesitant to keep WWE programming.
According to Meltzer, FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch himself explained last year that the network just wasn't hitting the advertising numbers they needed to make a return on their investment, which he mostly put down to the WWE fanbase, and admitted that FOX didn't attribute "enough significant retransmission revenue" to WWE. Murdoch said that it made sense for WWE to move on to a new partner.
FOX might not be out of the wrestling business though, as there have reportedly been ongoing discussions with AEW about potentially bringing a show to one of their cable networks. AEW recently trademarked "Shockwave," which is said to be a new one-hour show, with AEW talent even believing that it will end up on FOX Sports 1 in the near future.