The Hamilton Ave Journal 02.02.08: Volume 1 – Issue 19

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 January 31, 2008, here are the current standings of our shows:

RAW
Close (This Week’s Rating): 3.9
Open (Last Week’s Rating): 3.5
Percentage Change: ▲ 11.4%
52-Week High: 4.3
52-Week Low: 2.5
All Time High: 8.1
All Time Low: 1.8

SmackDown!*
Close (This Week’s Rating): 2.7
Open (Last Week’s Rating): 2.8
Percentage Change: ▼ 3.6%
52-Week High: 3.3
52-Week Low: 2.2
All Time High: 5.8
All Time Low: 1.0

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

1. D Generation X Anytime Anywhere T-Shirt
2. Hardys Purple Logo Pendant
3. Shawn Michaels Creation T-Shirt
4. John Cena Beware of Dog Package
5. WWE Black Gift Bag
6. Triple H The Conqueror T-Shirt
7. Randy Orton Oblivion T-Shirt
8. WWE Best of Raw 15th Anniversary DVD
9. Stone Cold Steve Austin Legacy of Austin DVD/T-Shirt Package
10. WWE Party Supplies Pack

Despite not being truly in existence, whenever DX introduces a new item it does tremendously well. If we could the DX shirt as half an item each for Triple H and Shawn Michaels, they both have 1.5 items in the Top 10. Jeff Hardy maintained his position as the number one seller, but already lost his second item on the list. John’s Cena’s return was a shock and therefore his items only started hitting the charts in the later half of the week. Still, the man made it back to number four in just a few days. Next week will be more telling if John’s Cena’s rise to dominance and push to WrestleMania will mean the devaluing of Jeff Hardy, a situation the Journal has been particularly concerned with over the past six weeks.

TNA requires a little bit more research. Their website does not release Top Ten lists, so the Journal does a general search for a space on “featured products” and sorts by most popular. They came up in order as:

1. TNA Meltdown CD Vol. 2
2. The History of TNA: Year 1 DVD
3. TNA Fleece Jacket
4. NEW TNA Hoodie
5. James Storm “Sorry Bout Your Damn Luck” T-Shirt
6. TNA Bound for Glory 2007 DVD
7. 2008 Wall Calendar
8. TNA Fleece Blanket (B)
9. Long Sleeve TNA Logo T-shirt (Navy)
10. Booker T T-shirt

There was only one bit of movement on TNA’s list, and that was James Storm edging up another spot to number five and pushing Bound For Glory 2007 to number six. The amazing sales record of James Storm continues, even with the departure of his twice-scorned partner. Although James Storm is outselling Christian Cage, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Booker T, Sting, et al, there has been no indication that TNA has noticed this trend. James Storm continues to be directionless. Although Chris Harris is now gone, TNA has a chance to make it up with James Storm and see where they can go with him from here.

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.

From the commentary section last week, we have several items to highlight.

411Mania’s own JD Dunn chimed in with some thoughts on comparing ECW December to Dismember to an ROH PPV:

“From a financial revenue perspective, ECW December to Dismember was at least nine-fold times better performing than the ROH PPV.” Actually, from a financial perspective, it would either be far underperforming the ROH PPV because it was a net loss due to the high costs of the show, or, it would be roughly 36-fold more successful because of the differences in PPV prices. 🙂

Half correct. Yes, a WWE PPV is far more expensive for a consumer, meaning it would do at least 36 times more revenue. Roughly half of that revenue goes to the PPV, so the remainder is the net revenue. And yes, a WWE PPV costs a lot more to put on than an ROH PPV. With everything from performers to staff to technology (live satellite link-ups) to ring sets cost significant money. That said, the WWE also had a much larger audience that paid a lot more per capita to be there and also bought merchandise. The Journal is not convinced that ECW December to Dismember was a net loss, although it was most likely only profitable by a small margin. On the other hand, if we were to compare this to a TNA PPV, then yes, a TNA PPV is most likely in the red.

This brings us to a point made by Paul:

From a business point of view, what value does TNA’s television outreach and mainstream dvd distribution do them when they don’t sell enough products (including ppvs) to become self-supporting, let alone profit making?

Now this is finally a valid point in all of the attempts to tear TNA down to the benefit of ROH. TNA is far more visible and spread out all over the world, but it also means the company is spread thin. There is not one category that TNA is more successful in than the WWE yet tries to compete with them in almost every category. This lack of focus has hurt TNA, but the plan has been for years to grow without profit. Growing without profit is nothing unheard of nor unacceptable. Amazon.com went nearly ten years without ever posting positive earnings. Biotech companies like Biogen spend the better part of 12-15 years doing nothing but losing money as they try to get one drug passed though the FDA and hope that it turns a profit. Companies like Sirius, XM, and TIVO have never turned a profit, and some companies intentionally go into the red for years in order to grow.

The bottom line is, there is nothing wrong with TNA losing money so long as it is part of the growth strategy and that Panda Energy is willing to foot the bill. That said, the loss cannot got on forever and TNA has to reach a point in sales and buyrates to at least close the gap, if not turn a profit. The other issue is TNA has a relatively expensive roster in comparison to its size, nonetheless a very large front and back office staff.

But with so many resources and reach in place, TNA is posed to grow their product in each of its categories and is in a stronger place than any organization has been since the demise of WCW. The original ECW never reached the level of distribution and availability as TNA, which means TNA is already a step ahead of them. Can TNA grow to meet their various markets? Perhaps, but at least the pieces are all in place to make it happen.

The last point comes from JJ:

Even though TNA has a farther reach than ROH and has a TV deal, ROH is making money and is expanding more than TNA. Form a financial standpoint, TNA is stagnant, while RH continues to grow and continually gains more fans.

The Journal will have to disagree on many fronts. As seen above, ROH’s expansion has cost them dearly on the bottom line and they are being forced to scale back. TNA is touring around the country and drawing crowds in the low couple of thousands. Over the summer, TNA was drawing crowds of 500, so that means live audience size has already increased four fold. As covered above, for only the second time has TNA done a rating of 1.2 for two weeks in a row. Once again, from an “enjoyment quotient”, someone watching TNA and ROH may think of TNA as stagnant from a product perspective, but that is not true from a company perspective. TNA even has the next two PPVs scheduled for outside of Orlando, and the rest of the PPVs all of “Location TBA” listed with them. TNA is making strides in different ways.

There was plenty more written, so be sure to check out the rest of that section. Also worth your read this week is: