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Stream of Unconsciousness
By Sheldon Goldberg | February 9, 2006
Why the major wrestling web sites are ignoring the biggest change in professional wrestling
Internet television is quite possibly the biggest change in professional wrestling since television itself. It’s use in wrestling is something that I introduced. (Related link: Missing out on the big picture.)
In the late summer of 1996, I was working with Howard Brody and the late Hiro Matsuda on a project called Ring Warriors. Matsuda had obtained the right to distribute the TV shows of New Japan Pro Wrestling outside of Japan from TV Asahi, the network that originally aired the shows and was a partner in New Japan. Hiro and Howard took the Japanese tapes, edited them and added new commentary by the late Gordon Solie and Sir Oilver Humperdink. The shows were repackaged under the name Ring Warriors and successfully distributed throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa. Hiro’s plan was to figure out how to bring the shows into North America and at the same time get enough financial momentum to create his own crew of stars, some from New Japan and some he would train or recruit to create completely original shows.
The challenge was to create awareness in North America and prime the pump for financing and marketing and promotional opportunities.
I had seen an article talking about the subject of video on the Internet and suggested that, if it worked, it would potentially be a viable alternate means of distribution. Howard had contacted a company that worked closely with another company called VDO Systems, which developed the early software that streamed video on the Internet. Some new Ring Warriors shows were edited with Gordon Solie and Bruno Sammartino on commentary. The initial shows were offered free, after which a subscription model would kick in.
The first show, which was offered free, drew great numbers out of curiosity. However, in 1996 few people had broadband access and the software was still in its infancy. The subscription model was a failure. But the concept of delivering pro wrestling content via the Internet was one I knew that I would revisit.
Fast forward to November 2004. My company, New England Championship Wrestling, is looking for a way to boost its business. A careful analysis of our web statistics in the prior months showed that over 6,000 unique visitors were coming to our web site every month. We were not drawing anywhere near that number at the live gate, but it told me that there were many people out there that wanted a window into our product.
Broadcast TV was out of the question. We didn’t have the money to produce it, nor did we have the money to buy the time to air it. And even if we were inclined to buy TV time from a local station, what kind of time slot would we get? Most likely it would be fringe time – late nights and weekends – when audiences were at their lowest. Buying TV time is a cash and carry proposition. You get the time you buy and nothing more. No promos. No inclusion in the TV station’s advertising.
Cable access was possible, but few people actually watch it and distribution is on a town by town basis, which means dubbing and delivering tapes. The wider the distribution, the more difficult that becomes, and the benefits are suspect.
In October of 2004, we decided to produce a cable access type of TV show with original matches taped at the wrestling school owned by the then-booker of the promotion at that time. It would be an updated version of a Memphis/Georgia style TV. So with camcorders and computers, we produced new episodes every week. But instead of the medium being cable access or broadcast fringe time, we uploaded them to a server and made them available for download or streaming for free on the Internet. Now there were no distribution issues. No tapes to dub or mail. The potential audience was worldwide. They could see it anytime they wanted.
Sure, there were other companies that had put their TV shows on the Internet, but they were all shows that were produced for conventional TV. This was the first time an independent company produced a regular series of weekly shows specifically for the Internet. It was a truly creative solution to an economic and marketing dilemma. It debuted in November 2004, just before Thanksgiving.
It started a revolution.
The first imitator was Jersey All Pro and dozens of others have followed. When TNA was in the process of transitioning from Fox Sports to Spike TV, they made their shows available on the Internet. WWE, which had Byte This as an original Internet show for some time, now has moved Heat and Velocity to the Internet. In fact, if you look at WWE.com, the site positively thrives on streaming video. If that is not an endorsement of the power of Internet-based video content, I don’t know what is.
You would think that you would have read this story in the Observer or the Torch. No such luck. In fact, the major wrestling web sites, with the exception of PWInsider.com have altogether ignored the Internet television phenomenon. And make no mistake, it IS a phenomenon.
Shortly after we started NECW TV, we started getting publicity. A story about us in the wrestling column of the New York Post created so much traffic, the owner of the web server we were using kicked us off – even though he advertised unlimited bandwidth – forcing us to find a new web hosting company. At its peak, we had close to 10,000 downloads in a week. We settled into a pattern of anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 downloads per week. And this with no advertising whatsoever.
You would think that the sites that are supposedly the “bibles†of the wrestling business would have at least made some sort of gesture or acknowledgement of the trend. Instead, there is an attitude of disdain and that the concept of “Internet television†is some kind of dirty word.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that broadcasting on the Internet makes you equal to or better than any other company. What I am saying is that this is not going away and you will be seeing the medium of streaming video become increasingly important to wrestling and all other kinds of television programming.
The major sites are naturally dominated by news of the WWE and TNA. Ring of Honor gets a disproportionate amount of coverage – not because it is really a major promotion – but because it buys ads on all the major sites and thoroughly markets itself to the so-called “Internet fan.†It’s not a put down of ROH or their product, but a tribute to their ability to create an aura of importance about themselves – bought and paid for or otherwise.
There are issues which hold all independents back – funding, talent issues, etc. But there is now an established and viable way to beat the problem of exposure. It may not be THE answer today, but it is undeniably a major change in the promotion of professional wrestling.
Sheldon Goldberg is the owner of New England Championship Wrestling.
Topics: All Topics, Pro-Wrestling, Sheldon Goldberg, TNA, WWE | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Has this resulted in increased ticket sales, or merchandise sales, or anything like that for NECW? Of the 1000 to 3000 people who download the show every week. How many of those people live in New England, and can attend the shows?
I’m curious because I’ve always been skeptical of marketing on the internet because so many people that you reach are unable to even attend your shows, and without TV, or PPV, and unless they’re buying your merchandise, how are they helping your business?
Luke makesa good point. About 10 years ago, I ran a newsletter and play-by-mail game. As INternet momentum picked up, business actually TAPERED and I gave it up.
Why would people PAY me for things they can get for FREE on the Internet.
Today’s wrestling fan is tired of mind-numbing WWE programing and is hungry for something newer and better. So, sure, there is a large market that will GLADLY download FREE Internet programming.
But will they PAY for tickets or merchandise? Or PPV events?
That will be the true test of ‘success’ thru web marketing.
I’d be very intereted in hearing about Sheldon’s fiscal results/success.
Luke,
The Internet TV has had a lot of very substantive and beneficial effects on our business, some more obvious than others.
When we started the TV’s, the audiences did show a decent increase but more telling were the reactions of the people who had been coming regularly. Suddenly, they knew more about the wrestlers and the feuds. Their anticipation for the shows was greater because they had a means between events to follow the promotion. I have always viewed the TV’s as part of a grass roots marketing effort. I did not expect throngs to show up at the door simply because of the TV. However, we have had fans come to see us from overseas. Not in huge numbers, but enough to know that it is being well-received.
We have seen a heightened interest in video sales and are taking steps to get material into the marketplace in a more timely fashion. The sales on the recent women’s tournament DVD we produced were excellent, and I attribute that specifically to the Internet TV.
But even more important than those things was making the transition to being a company that does TV as opposed to a company that just does house shows. Internet TV is a wide net. The viewers we have come from over 60 countries. I’d imagine we get a very good portion from New England, but local conventional TV would be a better means to reach those people. However, without taking this step, the leap to conventional TV would be much, much greater.
Regarding Jeff’s comment, we try not to give everything away for free on the Net. We actually had squash matches on our TV and most likely will again.
The value of Internet television is the ability to disseminate our product our way and on our terms. It’s also a means to a greater end and we are far better off for doing it.
Thanks Sheldon. I never thought of the opportunity it gives current fans to follow the product and feel more involved. That would probably help the atmosphere at the events. Hopefully it continues to work out for you.
One other point about the positives about Internet TV is that it gives the roster television experience and makes them a better prepared commodity for bigger and better things.
I would echo Sheldon’s sentiments about cable. From 2000-2003, I produced a weekly wrestling television show which ran on cable every Saturday morning. Generally the cards would take place on Sunday. Sunday through Wednesday would be spent editing, paring and producing the show with Tuesday night being reserved for match intros, interviews and angles being shot in the span of three hours. Then it was back to editing and the tapes had to be at the station by Thursday or they wouldn’t run. This was at the cost of $1200 a month. Additionally, we had to recruit sponsorship, shoot and edit their spots and negotiate their buys. With an average of three to four sponsors per program, we still had difficulty breaking even every month. Did it result in an increased gate? Not for the average weekly shows, however when we used a name such as Robert Gibson, Roaddog or Marty Jannetty the tv helped. I can say without reserve that had the technology existed to upload and stream our shows, I would have done it and probably have spent more time on promotion and other forms of media. Television time is not the bargain it was in the Seventies, when local stations needed territories to fill air time before the midnight creature feature or before Saturday College football. Further evidence of this model’s viability will probably be proven if Highspots is able to succesfully launch their match listings. While this will be a pay per view service, I firmly believe that the Internet will be this millenium’s distribution model for wrestling. Kudos to Sheldon for being an early success with this model.
Mr Goldberg, I’ve read on NECW’s site that you have secured TV spots on cable and broadcast channels in Central CT. I live nowhere near there, so could you fill us in on the details? A lot of specifics would be appreciated.
Use this link for NECW TV information in CT.
The shows that are running on cable and broadcast in CT are the same shows aired on the Internet. The broadcast shows run a week behind.
The air times are on Mondays at 8:00 PM and Saturday at 10:00 AM on Cox Channel 15 which serves Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Newington, South Windsor, Glastonbury, East Hartford, Manchester and Enfield.
The shows also air on Thursday at 8:30 PM on Comcast Channel 18 which serves Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Deep River, Essex, Lyme and Old Lyme.
NECW TV can also been seen on Saturdays at midnight on WHRX-Channel 12, a small over-the-air station which serves part of Hartford. This is our first broadcast clearance. It is essentially a public access channel, just broadcast over the air.
We expect to expand into that area of CT in 2006.