ESPN Changes WWE PLE Pre-Broadcast for Summerslam

Since the move to ESPN Unlimited, regular cable channel ESPN has typically broadcast the first hour for free. This weekend for Summerslam, however, there’s been a change of programming.

As noted by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, ESPN is going to run a three-hour preshow with no actual matches this time. from 3-6 p.m. eastern, on both days. According to Dave Meltzer, the feeling internally is that the free matches did not drive subscriptions at the level which was hoped for. The idea behind the free hour was to let casual fans know a big show is happening, and hope a significant proportion would be hooked enough by the match they see to want to get the whole show.

One possible issue there is that a casual viewer of ESPN who’s a fan of competitive sports may not be as easy a target for sports-entertainment marketing. Meltzer notes that the pre-show hours have done better ratings than Smackdown with the 18-49 demographic, but it’s quite likely that most of those watching were already WWE fans. As far as ESPN is concerned, however, the hours did deliver good ratings. It remains to be seen what sort of pre-show they replace it with, and if fans will tune in for all three hours each day.

Meltzer previously made similar points on his radio show.