Report: WWE PPVs To Be Shorter Going Forward
Long shows are a thing of the past
Jun 12, 2021
WWE pay-per-views won't be as long going forward, according to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling podcast.
The company being less concerned about "watched hours" following the sale of the WWE Network to Peacock in the United States is reportedly the driving force behind this.
"Here's a little tidbit, expect all WWE pay-per-views to be a little shorter now... Before with the WWE Network, they were reporting everything to the stock investors. And during these calls, watched hours is a huge deal. 'Oh we have 1.2 million subscribers but the average watched time for this was, you know, six-and-a-half hours, or four-and-a-half hours, or whatever it is.' They were all about watched hours. Now, they don't care. It doesn't matter anymore, they're on Peacock. All the investors care about is that money coming in from Peacock and Peacock really is not putting pressure on watched hours. They don't have that mindset," Zarian said.
WWE pay-per-views are traditionally three hours in length but some have gone extremely long in the past, especially editions of WrestleMania before the COVID-19 pandemic.
SummerSlam has also been a long show in recent years, but the 2021 edition is expected to be shorter so fans can watch/attend the Manny Pacquiao-Errol Spence Jr. fight.