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Vince Russo touched upon the change in WWE's business model and reduced importance on TV ratings during a recent episode of Writing with Russo with Dr. Chris Featherstone.
The former writer believed WWE no longer prioritized its TV product and that increasing its social media reach was of more importance to the company's officials.
Russo explained that WWE's business now revolves around maximizing its social media impressions and said that WWE President Nick Khan probably used the metrics while dealing with major networks and companies.
Vince Russo felt WWE's television shows were no longer considered necessary from a business standpoint as the emphasis was now on increasing value by expanding social media numbers.
Russo added that the new approach had hurt the quality of WWE's shows. Here's what Russo told Dr. Chris Featherstone on the latest Writing with Russo:
"Bro, I don't think that the TV show and ratings, I don't think that's how they are doing business anymore. Bro, they are doing business based on their social media numbers. When Nick Khan is going out, bro, he is hitting them with these billions of impressions. That's where networks and companies want to get on board with you because of the value of your reach across the board, and they are looking at social media, bro. That's what they are selling. So, I don't think, bro, you don't have the importance of the ratings anymore, and if you don't have the importance of the ratings anymore, you don't have the importance of the television show. That's really what it comes down to, bro. Television shows are not as important to them from a business point of view as it was back then. That's what it is," explained Vince Russo.
It doesn't matter if it's good or bad: Vince Russo on WWE's content
Vince Russo stated that WWE doesn't even have to put out good content anymore as quantity is the only requirement in the current programming landscape.
Russo said content providers needed sources like WWE to continue to provide shows and programs, and the quality of the product no longer mattered.
"They know now, bro. Content is king," Vince Russo continued, "These content providers, they want content. It's almost like they don't care what it is. I mean, Chris, you and I could look at a line of cable shows any day of the week, and we will laugh at at at least 75% of the shows. They just want content. So, if WWE could just keep churning out content, and people are going to pay for it because they want content. Bro, it doesn't matter if it's good or bad. It doesn't matter who Becky Lynch comes back and faces. It doesn't matter."
Do you agree with Vince Russo's take? Is WWE really not giving enough importance to its TV shows due to the increased focus on other business strategies? Sound off in the comments section below.
If any quotes are used from this article, please add a H/T to SK Wrestling.
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