More men watch UFC than WWE, 74.6% to 62.8%
More women watch WWE than UFC, 37.2% to 25.4%
A greater percentage of UFC's audience is Gen Y(18-29) & Gen X(30-44) than WWE, 36.5% & 37.1% to 29.1% & 35.8%
WWE's audience skews older than UFC's (a greater percentage of fans in the 45-64 & 65+ demographics than UFC)
A greater percentage of UFC's fans have attended/graduated from college or completed post-graduate work/degree
Of the 318.9 million people in the United States, 3.7% or 11.7 million are avid WWE fans compared to 5.1% or 16.3 million avid UFC fans.
According to WWE's investor's presentation on their corporate website, the largest percentage of their audience is 50+ years of age (37%) with 19% of their audience ages 2-17.
If you were going to summarize what you just read, you would draw the conclusion that UFC is a more testosterone-driven REAL SPORT that appeals primarily to YOUNG MEN. While WWE, or pro wrestling, is a COSMETIC ATHLETIC DRAMA that appeals to a MORE DIVERSE AUDIENCE.
The personalities and reputations of the people involved are dramatically different. UFC is made of up of ATHLETES. There are very few athletes who do or say anything controversial while carrying out their athletic endeavors. Even the more brash, demonstrative talkers like Chael Sonnen or Conor McGregor don't do much more than puff out their chests like boys in a high school hallway fight when it comes right down to it.
The only controversy that surrounds UFC are the things that take place outside of the performance arena: the PED scandals and Jon Jones' recent legal troubles as examples. Other than that, it's very easy to embrace an ATHLETE because when it comes time to market and promote a UFC event, you know what you're getting: a well-produced, sporting event in which athletes behave themselves by getting in the cage and fighting. It's the final scene of any beloved sports movie: legitimate athletes making the necessary sacrifices in order to achieve their goals. And many of these men and women are Olympians, All-Americans, or national heroes. People who are easy for the public to embrace.
In this way, UFC has virtually erased its auspicious beginnings when it was seen as barbaric and a bloodsport. It has polished its star to the point where it has become something that the public has not only accepted, but embraced.
By contrast, WWE is made up of PERFORMERS. There's a reason more pro wrestlers try ACTING than PROFESSIONAL SPORTS. When a UFC live event starts, you know what to expect: all of the talking is over, and the athletes are going to shut their mouths and compete. In a live WWE event however, you have NO IDEA what to expect. How many shows air live on TV? Not very many. And those that do typically do not have a very long run time and usually follow a very structured format. And almost never do the people responsible for the content of the show become part of the show. WWE Raw is a loosely-formatted three-hour live show that is never rehearsed and the people responsible for the content of the show are regularly part of the show. Do you see the difference?
Any live show is going to be inherently more risky for advertisers than a scripted show. But the risk involved with a WWE live product has to be considered greater by virtue of the nature of the product itself. One of the selling points of UFC is human interest. Fans are encouraged to get to know the athletes, view their story, and connect with them on social media. There are few boundaries when it comes to fan access in UFC. WWE, and wrestling in general, is still a business that is shrouded in mystery. Because the wrestlers are PLAYING A ROLE, there are often aspects of the performers' lives that THEY PURPOSELY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT and will do their best NOT TO MENTION or even TRY TO COVER UP.
Pro wrestling, like UFC, has very auspicious roots. But whereas UFC has been able to shed its early less-favorable reputation, wrestling still maintains that cloud of suspicion that has hung over it since its creation. Pro wrestling has always fought the battle for legitimacy: whether it was trying to pass itself off as a legitimate sport in its early days, or trying to pass itself off as a legitimate big player in entertainment today. And the struggle is centered around the very nature of the business itself. Pro wrestling is and always has been A WORK. Wrestlers are carnival workers trying to get you to spend a dollar on the sideshow exhibit. They're trying to SELL the audience on an ILLUSION. It should go without saying that the UFC is completely different. A UFC fighter can endear himself to his audience by simply BEING HIMSELF. In most cases, a pro wrestler is trying to endear himself to his audience by being SOMEONE ELSE. This very fact alone immediately creates obstacles to fan interaction and therefore, fan investment. WWE is not going to put together a video package on Bray Wyatt's journey to the “big time” and encourage its fans to get to know him. Because that doesn't help to SELL THE ILLUSION. It actually achieves the OPPOSITE. Windham Lawrence Rotunda (Bray Wyatt's real name) might have a very compelling personal story that fans might really enjoy, but the nature of pro wrestling is in direct opposition to WWE sharing that story with its fans.
In this way, pro wrestling finds itself in a unique situation in entertainment. For whatever reason, fans of Breaking Bad can interact with Bryan Cranston at a live event or on social media, and are completely accepting of the fact that they are not interacting with Walter White, Cranston's character on the show. However, fans are less tolerant of the same type of interaction with pro wrestlers. The reason can only be wrestling's insistence on and success at SELLING THE ILLUSION that fans are so much more invested in these characters. For instance, fans are reminded every week when they watch Game of Thrones that they are watching Emilia Clarke PLAYING THE CHARACTER of Daenerys Targaryen. WWE has NEVER told its audience Dolph Ziggler's real name. But if every week during Raw's opening sequence fans read “Starring Nick Nemeth as Dolph Ziggler” this perception might change. While something so simple could help improve fan interaction, would it also SPOIL THE ILLUSION? It doesn't seem to affect the popularity of these other shows. And if pro wrestling is really just another form of entertainment, why not simply follow suit?
It almost seems silly that a million-dollar company like WWE would be failing at expanding its portfolio for no reason other than a misguided determination to hang onto its archaic carny methods of doing business, but right now wrestling seems truly STUCK. While WWE has succeeded in polishing its product to the point of having overdone it, pro wrestling remains a sort of bastard in the entertainment industry. It's not likely that they will try to appeal to the coveted 18-34 year-old demographic by reverting to more risque storylines like they did in the 90s. But if the goal is to be accepted and be invited to sit at the “big kids' table” SOMETHING needs to change. WWE has often set the trends for the wrestling business and for a company so willing to drop certain traditions in the past, it seems odd that it would be one of those very traditions that has them so hung up. It's time to pull the curtain all the way back so to speak, and finally become an open book for the welfare of the entire industry. Right now, they're on the fence and the impression is that they're scared to abandon their “secret society” mentality. But hiding in the shadows has not helped them to achieve their goals. The performers deserve to be recognized as stars and not just nameless, faceless acts in ring leaderVince McMahon's circus. A new level of respectability needs to be achieved not only in the way wrestling presents its product, but in the way it does business with not just the public, but with its performers as well.
Perhaps that is what truly has Vince McMahon afraid. Right now he still wields the power of Oz. But to acknowledge that World Wrestling Entertainment is not merely his genius operation but also the result of the hard work and talent of dozens of highly trained professionals, he's reduced to merely a clever “wizard” with no true magic. Why would a man whose only goal in business has ever been success purposely prevent himself from it? The adage rings true: the only time a man doesn't want money, is when he wants something else. Wrestling fans all wondered why Vince didn't capitalize on the money that could have been made from the WCW Invasion angle or from the resurrection of ECW. Why indeed? It's not hard to piece together the truth and realize that Vince McMahon was after something else: the complete and utter burial of the two brands that dared to challenge him. Even at the expense of making himself more money. If that was true then, is it really a stretch to think that Vince McMahon, who has always had the final say and ultimate control over his product, might purposely be preventing the ONE THING that could help him to achieve his goal of mainstream acceptance of “sports entertainment” for no reason other than it would result in too much leverage for the performers not just in his company, but throughout the professional wrestling industry? Again, its not hard to piece to together.
Handsome Dan Lopez is the host of Handsome Dan's Final Say which you can listen to at wlwstudios.com. Follow him on Twitter @DansLastWord.
