For about three and a half years now, I have been promoting RealProWrestling (RPW), traveling the world spreading the news of this New League of Superheroes. I stood on the very same dusty ground Socrates stood on at the Parthenon, in Athens, Greece during the 2004 Olympics. I ate dinner at a bistro in Cannes, France with television buyers from the Middle East. And I’ve been dropped to my knees and choked in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by one of the Greatest Wrestlers that ever lived, Danny Hodge.
As you might imagine, these journeys have allowed me to meet, shake hands with, and speak with thousands of people. The names, places and faces continue to change, but the one thing that is always remains constant is the buzz about RealProWrestling. Many questions often arise ranging from how RPW was started to what the ratings for the first season were. The following is information I want each and everyone of you to know about what I’ve learned about RPW, so far”¦
The Shell
It has been over four years since the former Northwestern University teammates, Matt Case and Toby Willis, were trying to create and publish a magazine when a discussion about Title IX ultimately led to the formation of RealProWrestling. I could tell you all the details but in the essence of time and space, would rather direct you to www.realprowrestling.com. There you will find everything about the history of RPW, team lineups, articles on your favorite athletes, merchandise and more. Don’t be a stranger to this website, you never know what may pop up here.
Ingredient #1 – Television
To start, I want to give you some general terminology to make sure the rest of what is in this article makes sense to you.
Nielsen Television Ratings “An estimate of the audience size for a particular show: how many people watched.
A rating point – A single national ratings point represents 1%, or 1,096,000 households for the 2004-5 Season.
There are three primary ways to collect viewing information: people meters, set-tuning meters and paper diaries.
1. The People Meter – An electronic metering system placed in randomly selected households “5,000 households for nationwide audience measurement.
Who is watching television is measured by the “People “part of the meter.
2. Set-Tuning Meter – In 56 of the nation’s largest markets, an electronic metering system is used by Nielsen Media Research to provide set-tuning information on a daily basis. Overnight household tuning ratings are reported on a daily basis for these local areas.
3. Diary “The paper-viewing diaries are mailed out to randomly selected households in all 210 local markets in the U.S. Each household’s member in the diary sample is asked to write down what programs and channels they watch over the course of that one week.
What does all this mean? – Television by the Numbers
Total television Households for the 2004-05 Season: 109,600,000
Total number of markets in U.S.: 210
Houses with Nielsen boxes: @5,000
Total viewers in the Houses with Nielsen boxes: @13,000
Number of Markets represented by households with Nielsen boxes: Top 56
Number of television households represented by households with Nielsen boxes: 76,156,430
Number of paper diaries per year: 1.6 million randomly throughout 210 markets
So, approximately 1,605,000 households determine the viewing statistics for 109,600,000 households. That is 1.47% of viewing households calling the shots for the other 98.53%.
Ingredient #2 – RPW Ratings
Averaged a 0.3 US household ratings each week on PAX and Fox Sports Network, generating 312,500 weekly household impressions for each of the eight episodes.
On March 27th, 2005 RPW came out of nowhere to deliver 320,000 viewers on a Sunday afternoon, on the PAX network, in the middle of a March Madness playoff game.
On May 15th 472,000 viewers watched the RPW finale on PAX, a 48% increase in viewers from the premiere.
RPW has garnered a total of 2.5 million household impressions in its inaugural season on PAX and Fox Sports Network
Other sport’s ratings:
Monday Night Football “Denver Broncos vs Kansas City Chiefs earned an 11.7 rating (12.9 million viewers)
2004 Arena Football season opener between Arizona Rattlers and Los Angeles Avengers earned a 2.4 (2.6 million viewers)
NCAA Championship game UCONN vs Duke earned a 10.5 (11.3 million viewers)
On Sunday, May 1, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Built Ford Tough Series on OLN earned a .78 rating (743,000 viewers)
WWE Smackdown earned a 3.2 (3.4 million viewers)
NHL opening night on OLN – New York Rangers-Philadelphia Flyers earned a 0.4 rating (353,439 viewers)
*Notes of Interest:
There were frequent preemptions and time schedule changes which made RPW hard to find, if at all for households in various regions.
The ratings boxes we spoke of earlier”¦there are none in Iowa, a large fan base for RPW.
So, why should I care about this television mumbo jumbo?
BECAUSE WRESTLING IS IN TROUBLE!
I’m just a wrestler/wrestling fan from ____________(your state) I don’t give a crap about Mr. Nielsen, advertisers, sponsors and all those other folks. I just love wrestling, going to the NCAA’s, seeing my kids wrestle, talking about wrestling, coaching wrestling, etc”¦ Wrestling is the toughest and oldest sport in the world! Jacob wrestled the angel”¦he didn’t throw him a touchdown pass!
Have you ever said something like this? Heard someone say something like this? Have you ever done anything mentioned above? I am sure you have as sure as you are reading this article. We need to know more in order to do more for our sport.
Wrestling has been around since the beginning of time and is often referred to as Mankind’s oldest sport. From the Bible to ancient Greece to modern America, angels, kings and Presidents have all wrestled. For more information on the history of wrestling visit realprowrestling.com and read all the articles written by Mike Chapman, the foremost wrestling historian in the world.
Our sport may have come from the dark ages but there is no reason to keep it there. Football, baseball and basketball are sports that were made up in the last hundred years and their players and teams have attained mythical status in the realm of sports in such a short time. Can we think of basketball without Michael Jordan, Baseball without the New York Yankees, football without Terry Bradshaw?
Why you ask? Why do these other sports and athletes garner all the attention? Why do our programs get cut due to Title IX and theirs do not?
HERE IS THE ANSWER: TELEVISION AND MONEY!
Nielsen ratings are used like currency in the marketplace of advertiser-supported TV. When advertisers want a commercial to reach an audience, they need to place it in TV programs that deliver an audience. The more audience (YOU) a program delivers, the more the commercial time is worth to advertisers.
I’m Talking To YOU
The wrestlers and the wrestling community need to embrace the information from above and ask themselves, “What can I do? How can I help?” A transformation in our sport needs to take place if wrestling is to step out of it’s own shadow. A transformation from the top down and the bottom up is needed, and EVERYBODY can make a difference.
RealProWresling has a blazed a trail to a wrestling promised land, but to continue the journey we need a highway. So, let’s get on the path!
Watch for part 2 of “The Whole Enchilada “when we will discuss marketing, promotions and how to grow the sport.
Wrestling Gear
