The Hamilton Ave Journal 01.22.09: Volume 2 – Issue 70

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.

For the week ending Wednesday January 21, 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: 4.0
52-Week Low: 2.6
All Time High: 8.1
All Time Low: 1.8

SmackDown*
Close (This Week’s Rating): UNAV
Open (Last Week’s Rating): 2.2
Percentage Change: N/A
52-Week High: 2.8
52-Week Low: 1.6
All Time High: 5.8
All Time Low: 1.0

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

1.John Cena HLR Academy T-Shirt ($25)
2. Starrcade: The Essential Collection DVD ($34.95, on sale $23.67)
3. Jeff Hardy Armband Package ($80, on sale $29.99)
4. Jeff Hardy Basics YOUTH T-Shirt ($15)
5. Hardys Green Pendant ($10)
6. Hardys Purple Logo Pendant ($10)
7. WWE Black Gift Bag ($3)
8. John Cena Cenation Baseball Cap ($20)
9. John Cena Cenation Blue Sweatband Set ($12)
10. Jeff Hardy Armbands ($20, on sale $10)

After a week of diversity, John Cena and Jeff Hardy came back with a vengeance and took over 80% of the list. For those who doubted that Cena has lower priced items that sell, this week shows that he does have quite a few. On the other side, Hardy certainly dominates in the low price/low margin/high volume category. Also of interest is the Starrcade DVD set staying in the Top Ten and capturing the number 2 spot. It is rare for a DVD to stay in the Top Ten more than one week, so this is a positive sign for how well the set is doing and allows the potential for more NWA/WCW products in the future.

TNA sometimes releases a list of top selling items on ShopTNA.com. According to the site the top selling items were:

1. Autographed Sting Baseball Bat ($149)
2. Cross The Line Triple Pack DVD Set ($24.99)
3. TNA Ultimate Matches DVD ($19.99)
4. Beer Money T-shirt ($19.99)
5. Mick Foley – Bang Bang T-Shirt ($19.99)
6. TNA Christmas Ornament ($9.99)
7. Autographed Mick Foley & Sting Poster Combo ($49.99)
8. Autographed Sting Poster ($29.99)

And yet they took the time to make a Christian Cage discount package the number 1 item on the featured list. Where do the priorities lie?

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, one of the main topics was around if John Cena outsold Hulk Hogan. First up was Guest#3588:

I still want to see the merchandise figures adjusted for inflation.

Followed up by Sabby:

Exactly!!! If in fact this statement is true, the numbers are probably skewed. Cases in point:

Without adjusting for inflation guaranteed Cena has outsold Hogan, but adjusted its not even close. Hell I bet on a units of merchandise sold comparison Hogan is untouchable.

Just for clarification, according Box Office Mojo “Gone with the Wind” has $198 million in unadjusted dollars (in all of its theatrical releases) which adjusted for inflation is about $1.45 billion. Titanic comes in at number 6 with $924 million in adjusted for inflation dollars ($601 million original).

The other thing to take in to consideration is not only inflation, but abnormal price increases. For instance, a t-shirt in 1988 may have cost $7 while today it costs $25. Adjusted for inflation, that $7 is just $16, so there was another factor on the increase in price. A better example would be coffee. Although coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts in the 80’s may have been $0.40 and is now $2.11, but that price increase is not just from inflation but from the growing demand for coffee and the premium nature it became in the wake of Starbucks.

The other issue to deal with was availability, as JBL points out:

Let’s not forget that Hogan didn’t have the benefit of the internet to move his merch. When I was a kid, I would have killed for a Hogan shirt, but the only way to order was from a catalog I didn’t get in the mail.

Not just the internet, but the touring schedule and locations. The WWE sells the bulk of their merchandise as live events. Despite having less events today, the WWE goes to far more places and therefore can make more unique sales. They are also in stores all over the globe, making buying a product much easier. ECW used to stay alive by their catalogue sales (which Tommy Dreamer and Devon used to pack themselves). Imagine if ECW were born in this day and age what type of sales they could have.

Another controversial topic was how TNA President Dixie Carter came across during her interview with the Senate sub-committee. First up was ????:

Dixie Carter comes across very Gov. Sarah Palin-ish to me with all her interviews.

While this reporter will not deny the aesthetic appeal of Ms. Carter, not all of her responses came across as uninformed. These particular ones just stood out as part of our topic on demographics.

The argument from here turned to “how” Ms. Carter was answering questions. Darth Mortis summed up the argument with:

I think the point was that she didn’t get up, whip it out and basically tell them to suck on it in a blunt and openly uncooperative way.

She was just as obfuscate as McMahon, but she wasn’t argumentative about it.

That was the main difference. Mr. McMahon and his team of lawyers came in and started arguing and being uncooperative from the beginning. Ms. Carter at least gave the appearance of cooperation and actually gave quite a few answers that Mr. McMahon would not. For instance, when asked if she and other team members discussed if someone was on steroids and drugs, she said of course. And when asked if they every changes storylines based on someone’s supposed drug use or if they creative team members made decisions based on those factors, she also admitted to that. In contrast, Mr. McMahon claimed no knowledge of the subject of steroids or other drugs and it never came up in any of his decision. Ms. Carter was actually rather surprisingly truthful in places, although that still did not stop the Chairman from recommending that TNA’s drug policy needs to be explored in greater detail.

The biggest subject of the week, though, was the Titan Towers Massacre. Guest#7992 did not agree with the Journal’s take on the subject:

“All that amounted to was a measly $8 million”

Get some perspective.

The Journal has plenty of perspective and you should have read the next paragraph after that to understand it. The $8 they saved (actually $5 million after a $3 million impairment) did not address the core issues of why costs were rising. Instead of reigning in discretionary spending and cutting down on production and UPPER LEVEL management cost, they instead went after the class that had the least impact on the rising costs. At the end of the day, the $5 million saved will not increase the margins on the areas with rising costs because they have ignored the root issues that have caused the rising costs.

And the collateral damage from losing so many people and making the remaining staff less productive will only yield more rising costs. If the reward for hard work and service is to be let go because you make too much money than people will be less motivated to do better work. Why should a worker help the WWE get better when the WWE is only going to turn on them?

Guest#0123 did not think this was worth contention in his estimation:

As for the WWE ignoring the people factor, so what? They laid of 10% of their workforce, and it came out to a couple of dozen people.

Get over it. I hate seeing anyone lose a job that doesn’t really deserve to, but the global economy is in ruins right now, and every company is doing what it has to do to stay afloat.

Ok, the Journal NEVER claimed that the economy was not doing terrible and that job losses were not worse at other companies. But this is a discussion of the WWE’s business, not the economy in general. And you said it at the end of your rant: “every company is doing what it has to do to stay afloat”. The WWE did not have to do this! They are profitable and their cost problems are not with the people they released. It was a useless gesture to make the street happy and get their numbers looking slightly better; it did not actually help their business. Again, letting people go just because everyone else is doing it does not make it right. For the WWE’s business model, it was actually the wrong move and will cost them more in the short and long run.

If you were in a business that is posed to grow even in this economy, eliminating the staff is not the way to go. Addressing the actual issues of production cost, upper level management redundancy, discretionary spending, and an overdrawn dividend should be the WWE’s concerns. It was the incorrect business move for them, not just a terrible thing to do to people. But take out the people factor and it was still a misstep as a business decision. From a number perspective costs are still rising, margins are dropping and they still need to make up $15 million somewhere else. Now, though, they have less resources to make that happen. How is that a good move?

Once again, the WWE is just reacting to outside factors (this time the economy) instead of being proactive and thinking of their own business.

Plenty more was written, so be sure to take a look. And of course, a week would not be complete without a good dose of JP Prag’s own HIDDEN HIGHLIGHTS!!