The Hamilton Ave Journal 04.19.08: Volume 1 – Issue 30

Posted by JP Prag on 04.19.2008

SmackDown can’t get off Fridays, WWE Kids Magazine hits the shelves, Midway could be delaying the iMPACT video game, TNA needs a new manager of live events, ratings drop everywhere except ECW, and WrestleMania 24 takes over the number one spot in the Top Ten.

THE HAMILTON AVE JOURNAL
By JP Prag

Volume 1 – Issue 30

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

The Hamilton Ave Journal is the only wrestling news report focused solely on the business of wrestling. Here in the Journal we not only look at the stories that are important to the investor and business-minded person, but also delve deeper into stories that most fans of wrestling would overlook. That is because the Journal is about getting the heart of the matters that affect the companies and outlooks of the wrestling world.

And where is Hamilton Ave? That is the location of the WWE Production Studio in Stamford, CT, and thus the most powerful place in the wrestling world. Besides, The East Main Street Journal just does not have the right ring to it.

Who am I? I am JP Prag: consultant, entrepreneur, businessman, journalist, and wrestling fan.

Now, ring the bell because the market is open.




WHAT'S NEWS

The Journal's front page area known as What's News isn't just about telling you what has happened. The stories in this section are about what will have an effect on the wrestling industry, individual federations, and the wallets of the fans.

LEAD STORY: SmackDown stays on Fridays

Since the WWE announced their planned Fall move to MyNetwork TV, there has been little news about the future of SmackDown. This past week, MyNetwork TV President Greg Meidel sat down with TV Week's Chris Pursell to finally answer some of those long lingering questions.

Mr. Meidel and his team have spent the past few months planning the schedule and direction for their sixth placed network, including getting advertisers in line to pay higher rates. When asked specifically about SmackDown, this is the what Mr. Meidel had to say:

TVWeek: What does WWE bring to the table?

Mr. Meidel: Well, what it brings for us is that it really fits us like a glove. This is truly an opportunity for us to take a franchise that's proven, that works, that attracts a large audience as the dominant force every Friday night, as it did prior to that on UPN. A lot of our affiliates, including most of our MyNetworkTV O&Os, were UPN affiliates. So they're very aware and very knowledgeable of the strength of the brand and they have been involved and partnered with them in the past.

And there's the fact that it's targeted at the same audience that we go after. We go after adults 18-49, and we do have a slight advantage with men. So, it really fits us perfectly. So we see it not only as an immediate franchise for us on Fridays but also as a promotional platform to promote what's coming up the following week.

As Mr. Meidel notes, SmackDown helped define the UPN's audience when the network was not much of anything. And although UPN went in a different direction, SmackDown maintained its core demographic, the demographic that MyNetwork TV wants.

When thinking about that demographic, TVWeek wanted to know if there were plans for other types of sports entertainment shows. SpikeTV has demonstrated a prolific interest in various types of sports entertainment over the years, so this seems a valid question. In response, Mr. Meidel said:

We look at all of these franchises. This is an entertainment show that involves sports, but what we loved about the WWE is that it's a huge franchise, and it's built-in brand recognition. We think it'll help us continue to build out these other nights. If we were able to find some other franchise that is this big, we would be very interested. But there are very few out there, and very few become available, and that's why we took advantage of this opportunity. I'll say this sounds corny but this is our NFL.

That last statement is a very positive one for the WWE. Mr. Meidel is looking at the WWE as a cornerstone and ratings grabber. The WWE has not had much respect from UPN or the CW, so this may be a change of pace for SmackDown.

The other change that is happening is that MyNetwork TV wants to heavily promote SmackDown during their own airtime. This means that the affiliates give up ad revenue on one time slot to try to make it back on another. The conversation went:

TVWeek: MNTV asked affiliates to give up an extra two minutes of ad inventory for "Smackdown." Have there been any problems with the revised ad split?

Mr. Meidel: No. When we went out with our proposal to recapture inventory it was for two reasons: to create development via better programming, and to market, promote, and brand the network more than we have in the past. So, we're not acquiring or recapturing this inventory to reduce our losses or whatever, we're recapturing this inventory to grow the network.

The benefits to us will be the result of higher ratings and higher revenues. Higher ratings and increased revenues, how about that?

With that, it seems like the WWE has found a positive new home to grow. Will they help MyNetwork TV in the way Mr. Meidel hopes? Well, historically, only a small percentage of viewers who watch SmackDown watched the CW and UPN during the other nights of the week. Again, though, that was because other programs were in contention with SmackDown. MyNetwork TV is trying to get the same audience and therefore is programming to them instead of against them on most nights.

On the other hand, Mr. Meidel has already decided to keep SmackDown on Friday. Does the WWE want this? Is it beneficial to keep their program on Friday night? The one who benefits the most by this decision is TNA because now they do not need to worry about the idea of competing with SmackDown or moving to Wednesday nights.

This Fall we will start to see if the WWE and MyNetwork TV is really as strong a relationship as it is looking right now. In the meantime, there is nothing else to do but wait for the season premier.


WWE Kids Magazine Launches with controversy

This past Tuesday, the WWE Kids magazine made its official launch, but not before controversy leaked out of the Kids Initiative.

After just a few weeks on the job, Paul Kupperberg left his position as Senior Editor. When he was brought into the company, Mr. Kutterberg was thought to be man behind maintaining the comic features since he used to work at DC Comics. But during his stay on the job, the WWE did focus group research that led them to believe that kids no longer read nor are interested in reading comics. After a few comics were already drawn, the WWE has decided to drop the idea and the artists involved in creating them, including John Bryne.

Instead, most of the features will be "light-hearted, entertaining and packed full of photos" according to the Stamford Advocate that was paraphrasing WWE's Bob Lee, Vice President and Publishing Director. The Advocate goes on to state:

For example, readers are asked to identify an assortment of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley as they're wearing the mask of Mexican Lucha Libre wrestler Rey Mysterio.

And to help children understand the height of wrestler Great Khali, who is 7 feet, 3 inches tall, 164 iPods, 25 skateboards and 1,653 CDs are stacked up next to him in a picture.

No word on if future issues will contain any items on the Great Khali's diet, but the publication does have a focus on proper nutrition.

The bi-monthly magazine has had two major jumping off points for promotion. Aside from large displays at stores across the country, at Walmart in particular the magazine will be bundled with WWE: The Magazine.

Many in the industry are giving the new magazine a fair shot, especially since the WWE saw growth in their publication division while most other companies were hurt with shrinking circulation and softening advertising market. As is well known, the WWE has plenty of cash on hand and could continue the experiment for years to come to get the magazine to the level of recognition and readership they want.


TNA iMPACT delayed?

IGN is reporting that the TNA iMPACT game by Midway is delayed until a September release, although that would still fall within the true "Summer" if it hits stores by September 20th. The Journal attempted to contact Midway for comment and confirmation, but no one was available as everyone (including many TNA stars) were in Las Vegas for Midway's Gamers Day. As soon as Midway gets back, we will have the exclusive answers right here at 411mania.


Newsbites

Some items of note in the rest of the wrestling business world:

WWE's tour of Europe, which comes to an end today, is expected to generate a record-breaking $12 million in ticket sales alone. International growth has been extremely important for the WWE in recent years as attendance averages higher on ticket prices that are nearly 120% costlier to the consumer on average.

The consolidation of PPVs has also helped the WWE increase individual PPV buyrates as No Way Out has already garnered 328,000 buys, up 60% from last year's 205,000.

Although recently changing their policy and opening up pages on social networking sites MySpace and Facebook, the WWE will be launching its own social networking site in the near future. Since it is part of WWE online, Joey Styles may have a large hand in its overall development. The social network will be called "WWE Fan Nation".

Photographers are no longer allowed to stay ringside at televised WWE events as the WWE believes they show up too much on HD video. From now on, photographers are relegated to the area where the hard camera is set up. It remains to be seen if visiting photographers for large events like WrestleMania will also not be allowed at the ringside area.

On the heels of a string of successful small-venue house shows, TNA is now looking for Manager of Live Events Marketing to report to Director of Live Events & Director of Marketing. You can read about and apply for the position here.

The WWE will be releasing 2008 Q1 results on Tuesday May 6, 2008. The Journal will have complete coverage on Saturday May 10, 2008.


MARKETPLACE

In the Marketplace we look at the trends in television ratings. This section is less for critical analysis by the Journal but more for the reader to see what is really going on and to draw their own conclusions.

As with stocks, here in the Journal we track the progress of television ratings. If ratings are the barometer by which we judge the product, then over the course of 52 weeks we should be able to see patterns, trends, and anomalies. Please note that gaps in the chart below are due to data not being released/available.

For the week ending Thursday April 17, 2008, here are the current standings of our shows:





RAW
Close (This Week's Rating): 3.2
Open (Last Week's Rating): 3.3
Percentage Change: ▼ 3.0%
52-Week High: 4.2
52-Week Low: 2.5
All Time High: 8.1
All Time Low: 1.8

SmackDown*
Close (This Week's Rating): 2.5
Open (Last Week's Rating): 2.7
Percentage Change: ▼ 7.4%
52-Week High: 2.9
52-Week Low: 2.2
All Time High: 5.8
All Time Low: 1.0

* SmackDown! ratings may include fast overnight if final ratings are not posted. Also, SmackDown! ratings are for the prior week as overnights are not available before this article goes to print.

ECW
Close (This Week's Rating): 1.3
Open (Last Week's Rating): 1.3
Percentage Change: ▲ 3.1%
52-Week High: 1.8
52-Week Low: 0.6
All Time High: 2.3
All Time Low: 0.6

TNA iMPACT**
Close (This Week's Rating): 1.0
Open (Last Week's Rating): 1.1
Percentage Change: ▼ 9.1%
52-Week High: 1.2
52-Week Low: 0.9
All Time High: 1.2
All Time Low: 0.6

** TNA iMPACT's are for the prior week as ratings may not be available at the time of the Journal's posting

Analysis:

This past week was a terrible one for ratings. RAW, SmackDown, and iMPACT all saw losses of 3% to 9%. The only slight winner was ECW gaining 0.04 ratings points to a 3.1% gain. On the other hand, that gain involved a show featuring the World Heavyweight Champion the Undertaker teaming with his "brother" and ECW Champion Kane. With that much packed into ECW, the WWE must have been disappointed in such a small rise. As often noted here in the Journal, the WWE has done nothing to take steps to consistently gain viewers and is only using cheap ploys to try to pop ratings. Now, they have overused those ploys and they are no longer as effective. TNA should be taking note of this trend, but they, too, try to pop ratings (although less successfully) instead of working towards steady-state and long-term growth.


MONEY AND INVESTING

We all know that wrestling is a business, but we don't often pay attention to what sells and makes money. Money and Investing looks into the top selling items in the world of wrestling and any interesting figures that may have come out this week.

What are the top ten selling items for the WWE? From WWEShopZone.com:

1. WrestleMania 24 DVD 3-Disc Collectors Edition
2. WWE Heritage III Chrome Trading Cards
3. Triple H Hammer T-Shirt
4. WrestleMania 24 3-Disc DVD/Program/T-Shirt Package
5. WWE Black Gift Bag
6. Ric Flair Commemorative T-Shirt
7. Jeff Hardy Armbands
8. John Cena 8-Bit T-Shirt
9. D Generation X Shock T-Shirt
10. Triple H King of Kings: There is Only One DVD/Retro T-Shirt Package

The powerful marketing product that is WrestleMania begins its annual shine. On its premier week, WrestleMania 24 has already taken over two of the top ten spots for the WWE, shifting John Cena and Jeff Hardy down the list. Surprisingly, Triple H manages to keep two items plus a DX shirt in the Top Ten. Despite what anyone may think about him, Triple H still sells tremendously well and he'll use that to maintain his position for a long time to come.

TNA releases a list of Top Ten selling items, but in no order. Using the function to sort by most popular, they came up as:

1. Against All Odds 2007 DVD
2. Christian Cage "Instant Classic"
3. Sacrifice 2007 DVD
4. Motor City Machineguns T-Shirt
5. TNA Global Impact DVD
6. TNA Meltdown Vol. 2
7. TNA Anthology – The Epic DVD Set
8. James Storm "Sorry About Your Damn Luck" T-shirt
9. Shark Boy 24:7 T-Shirt
10. Turning Point 2007 DVD

This list makes no sense as only number 2 and 3 changed places. How can a sold out item (Shark Boy's shirt) still be in the Top Ten sellers? The reason seems to be that TNA is not updating this list on a regular basis or is sticking with the Top Ten of all-time. Therefore here in the Journal we are turning back to the method that was used before.

Looking at the featured items on TNA's shopping homepage, the results are sorted by most popular. They come up as:

1. TNA Global iMPACT DVD
2. Lockdown PPV Special Package
3. Nash "Big Sexy Tour" T-shirt
4. Shark Boy 24:7 T-shirt
5. Final Resolution 2008 DVD
6. Motor City & Machismo Autographed Pictures
7. AJ Style "Unim Phenomenous" T-shirt
8. Samoa Joe "Drastic Times, Drastic Measures" T-shirt
9. TNA "Cross the Line" T-shirt
10. Kurt Angle "Tappin' Tonight" T-shirt

This list, while less accurate for all items, is more accurate for current items. New TNA World Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe is off to a decent start with a number 8 debut, while the likes of Nash and Shark Boy still outsell him. Still, Samoa Joe's new shirt just premiered this week, so it will be interesting to see how far it can reach on the charts by next issue.


PERSONAL JOURNAL

Wrestling isn't just about watching and reading. The best way to be a wrestling fan is to experience it live. Where is wrestling coming to in the next 2 weeks? The Personal Journal answers that question.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
20 (Apr)	21 RAW Greenville, SC	22 SmackDown/ECW Greensboro, NC	23	24	25	26
27 WWE Backlash Baltimore, MD	28RAW East Rutherford, NJ TNA iMPACT Orlando, FL	29 SmackDown/ECW Atlantic City, NJ TNA iMPACT Orlando, FL	30	1 (May)	2 RAW Live Montreal, Quebec	3 RAW Live Hamilton, Ontario SmackDown/ECW Live Moncton, New Brunswick

Do you know a wrestling event coming up? Send one in to The Hamilton Ave Journal and we'll be sure to add it to the list.

EDITORIALS

The Editorials section is designed for you, the readers, to respond to the views presented in the Journal, send an important news item, or talk about another overlooked business related item in wrestling. Just beware: the Journal reserves the right to respond back.

From the commentary section last week, Timothy Sykes, who was quoted by the Journal as a contrarian to the WWE's stock performance wrote in with:

Completely inaccurate quote, I think WWE's stock is fine, but I don't care—I was referring to the fact that WWE is scripted entertainment, as comparable to unscripted--yet still fake--financial journalism.

ICTimer also concurred with Mr. Skyes:

I've got to second Timothy Sykes here - you took his blog post completely the wrong way - it had nothing at all to do with WWE stock really.

Here is the quote from the article, for those interested:

The financial media -- envious of the fat profits generated by such entertainment-based businesses as World Wrestling Entertainment Inc (NYSE: WWE), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN) -- has brainwashed you into believing that in order to make money in the stock market, you must keep up to date with every single headline and development in the business world. Hogwash!

Reading your explanation now, the Journal can see what your intention was, but that is not how the Journal translated what was written here. The way it reads is that the Financial Media is in love with these stocks, not trying to mimic theses companies' models. Thanks for the clarification and apologies if you felt misrepresented. Your point is well taken.

On the same subject of misunderstanding, Smark wrote in with this comment about people in the Middle East being "marks":

"It remains to be seen how fans would react if they had ready access to
411mania.com."
You know, this usually is one of my favorite columns on this site, but that was a totally inappropriate comment. What do you think, we don't have internet access here in the middle-east? That internet is somehow a rarity?

Apparently you misinterpreted how the Journal meant to portray that comment. What was written was a sarcastic jab at Morgan Spurlock, the director who made the comments. The comment was meant to be funny, but seemingly was not funny enough. Of course the Journal knows that internet access and 411mania are available in the Middle East! This reporter has been to the region before and is well aware of the general conditions. And of course, plenty of people write in from the various countries in the area as well, so this reporter has gotten perspective from many different types of people. Guest#6118 brings the point home:

I've been surprised that WWE hasn't done any tours of the area in a long time. Places like Dubai, Doha, Baharain, and Kuwait City (which they have been to before) are heavily westernized and stable and are not the corrupt war-torn Middle East we see on the news. And with F1 and the IRB Sevens going into the region, I think the WWE and even TNA should capitalize on. Having lived in Dubai for a few years I know that there are a lot of wrestling fans and would love the experience of a live event.

The Journal completely agrees. As an international corporation, the WWE should be looking to exploit growing markets, and you have certainly named a few. Too often the WWE cowtales to the American audience, but that is because they make up the majority of PPV buys. At a point in the future where more of the WWE's income comes from outside of the USA, they may be more willing to take trips to regions of world considered—rightly or not—anti-American.

Plenty more was written, so be sure to take a look. Also worth your read this week is:

It's a blast from WCW's past, starting off with Stuart James' NWA-WCW Great American Bash 1989.

Then it is time for Magnus Donaldson's review of WCW Pro from 8/26/95 and 9/2/05!

Csonka has the Monday Night Wars from 6/16/97…

Then finish off the week with Julian William's top ten surprisingly bad matches. I know, not related at all, but why not?

And, of course, a week would not be complete without a good dose of JP Prag's own HIDDEN HIGHLIGHTS!!


CLOSING BELL

This concludes Issue #30 (Volume 1) of THE HAMILTON AVE JOURNAL. Join us next week as we get ready to ring the bell again.

Till then!