Eric Bischoff believes about 80% of AEW fans are also WWE fans, evidenced by ratings drops when AEW Collision goes against WWE’s pay-per-view events.
Speaking on the latest episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Bischoff discussed this at length when prompted by his co-host, who asked him about the impact of Adam Copeland jumping to AEW. He began,
“There’s a tremendous duplication in the AEW audience. The AEW audience is I would imagine 80% comprised of people that also watch WWE. [I’m] convinced of that now. The first time or two, you know, maybe not, but now it’s a pattern. Now you can see it. And I think because — that segment of the WWE audience that was interested in Edge, Adam Copeland now or the Rated-R superstar in AEW. They want to check it out because they’re interested in their Edge but not necessarily in the product. That being the larger WWE audience. I think there’s a small segment of the audience that is exclusive AEW audience, but it’s a very, very small percentage if that makes sense. And if it wasn’t for a couple of weeks now, the pattern that has established itself when Collision is up against the WWE PLE, I would not have probably assumed that, but I think it’s a safe assumption now. So I think to answer your question as briefly as I can, it’s just f**king nearly impossible for me, yeah. Everybody knew about it, and a lot of fans that are fans of Edge wanted to see what that looks like but they weren’t necessarily invested in the product.”
Bischoff further shared his insights into product integration in AEW and suggested that AEW may not have the capacity to pursue product integration like studios and advertisers due to the evolving and complex nature of the wrestling business, and in general all media, especially considering their edgier product that appeals to a specific demographic. He said,
“As time has gone on and studios started smartening up, and advertising agencies started figuring out that they could make more money — in addition to just selling ads, they could make additional revenue with unique product placement opportunities. The wild, wild West aspect of it is over, which is a long-winded way of saying that perhaps AEW — I don’t think they’ve got the horsepower to pull it off, quite frankly. But I guess it’s possible that someone in AEW could kind of take that, take the reins of that opportunity and go out and try to create it. But I’m pretty certain there’s language in their contract with Turner that doesn’t give them that opportunity anymore. Now the studios want to make that money, so it’s up to the studio to go and sell product placement in the show.
“Here’s where it becomes a little more complicated. When you’re talking about a media buy… now the product you are placing now, the program you’re placing your product in becomes way more important. Because otherwise, you’re buying numbers. You’re buying audience and you’re buying demos for the most part. When it comes to product placement, your client is going to want to know more specifically what that show looks like. ‘Where is the product? How are you going to place that product? What does the scene look like? Who is the talent associated with that scene?’ It’s a much more sophisticated business now than it was ten years ago. And 20 years ago, it was the Wild West. So I don’t think the opportunity for AEW is quite as easy because of the nature of the product. Yes it appeals to young [people] because they say f**k and they bleed all over the place and all that s**t. Yeah, that’s cool for the audience, that segment of the audience. But your product placement potential is mitigated as a result of it.”
