Seth Rollins and Jimmy Jacobs Defend Raw’s Ratings

– Seth Rollins and Jimmy Jacobs posted to Twitter to defend Raw following a comment that Monday’s low was “embarrassing.” Bryan Alvarez took a shot at Raw over Monday’s viewership hitting 2.194 million viewers, which prompted Jacobs and then Rollins to reply. The two comments on how difficult it is to write as much content as Raw and Smackdown require. Jacobs also noted that he agrees with the idea of cutting an hour off of Raw, but that it doesn’t make financial sense for WWE to do so.

It is important to note that the drop-off Raw has suffered recently is not a particularly unusual fall. Raw is always down in the fall and winter due to heavier competition that the spring and summer. The rating’s week to week drops are more or less comparable to 2017’s drops. Ratings for shows generally drop from year to year, particularly as streaming, DVR and SVOD options become more prevalent. The average ratings across the broadcast networks have suffered larger percentage drops, which suggests that Raw (and Smackdown) actually have a stronger hold among its fanbase than most mainstream shows. Raw is certainly down in the ratings and being critically excoriated, but corrolation is not causation and the two are not necessarily related.

That’s the one thing I don’t think people understand. 5 hours of live TV every week. EVERY WEEK. Add in all the extraneous variables that affect the final outcome….and it’s a modern miracle that the shows come together as well as they do.

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) December 12, 2018

https://twitter.com/JimmyJacobsX/status/1072783515987652609

https://twitter.com/JimmyJacobsX/status/1072899020140568576

https://twitter.com/JimmyJacobsX/status/1072913641685573633