From the WWE Rumor Mill: SmackDown Live to have new commercial format

What’s the story?

Broadcastingcable.com reports that SmackDown Live’s commercial format will undergo a major change and may utilise picture to picture advertising.

This will allow wrestling fans to see some of the matches that occur during the commercial breaks while allowing advertisers to still get their products shown to the fans watching the program.

In case you didn’t know...

This commercial change is apparently the brainchild of NBC Universal, which owns USA Network and airs both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.

The company did a test run of this new commercial format during the 2016 WWE Draft, but have yet to attempt it again. The format used for the picture to picture advertising had the matches continuing in a small box to the left without audio while the commercials aired in a larger box to the right.

This is an example of the new commercial format to be used on SmackDown Live

The heart of the matter

NBC Universal claimed that viewership during the picture to picture commercials increased by 13% and contributed to the rise in the overall show rating by 2%. That draft episode was also the premiere of SmackDown Live and was the first time that the show broke 3 million viewership mark.

The change to picture to picture advertising for SmackDown is said to take place either in late May or early June.

NBC Universal will also be running the picture to picture advertising format for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

What’s next?

The primary reason the premier episode of SmackDown Live reached 3 million viewers was the Draft, as well as the WWE Championship rematch between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

The viewership only managed to reach 3 million again this year when the second half of the Superstar Shake-Up was revealed – a week after WrestleMania. Without these factors to boost viewership and with the recent record low ratings, this new format may be a determining factor in the increase or decrease of viewership.

Author’s Take

To test this format on SmackDown with the state of their current viewership is a bigger gamble than usual. Many fans are calling these recent episodes and recent creative directions some of the worst post-WrestleMania periods ever comparing it to 2011.

Hopefully, the WWE and NBC Universal can benefit from this new commercial format. Otherwise, it will only serve to weaken the viewership of both the channel and the Blue Brand.