WWE intentionally "spoils" Intercontinental Title change
Several years ago, during a conference call with investors, Linda McMahon (pre-political aspirations) was asked about the failure of the taped WWE Smackdown program to maintain the high ratings standard that Monday Night Raw was achieving on cable. During her response, Linda mentioned the hit Smackdown took from being a taped program, and how “spoilers” (results) being posted on the Internet had a negative impact on the viewership of the program.
WWE at the time, made great strides to present their television shows as being “live” even when they were not, with announcers on Smackdown calling the action as if it was taking place on Friday (or previously, Thursday) and not on the Tuesday when it was taped. While there were occasional exceptions to this, WWE’s website followed this path, not revealing the happenings on taped programs until they had aired. Once in a while, a major event would be “broken” on the website first, however these events were rare.
How times have changed.
WWE broke the news on their own Twitter feed last night that Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship at last night’s television taping… 24 hours in advance of the match being aired on WWE Main Event. “Old school” wrestling logic would state that it could hurt viewership of the new program, airing on ION, to have the result publicized. However, this is the new WWE, one that has more than embraced social media, they’ve practically thrown themselves into it. WWE looks to set a Guinness Record for tweets during their shows, and they seem obsessed with appearing on various trending lists.
Their pushing of the Kingston win is obviously a strategic move designed to get his fans to tune in for the title win, but it could also be seen as the first step towards a new way of promoting the taped shows. It is not inconceivable that WWE could start pushing their superstars to tweet about events taking place on upcoming broadcasts regularly, the way Kingston is with tonight’s show. If it proves to bring in more viewers, it could become the standard for WWE, changing the way they push their product when it is taped.
http://www.examiner.com/article/wwe-intentionally-spoils-intercontinental-title-change
she got the loudest Boos/cheers of anyone the whole night! do they feel bad because of eddie dying and they just keep her hanging around? AJ had an affair and/or fraternizing with talent on the roster??? .... DIDN'T vicki do the same thing with every talent she has been associated with??? WTF??????
