Report: AEW Pay-Per-View Buy Rates Expected To Suffer In The Wake Of ITV Box Office Closure
Not good news for the young promotion...
Since hosting Double Or Nothing back in May 2019, All Elite Wrestling's pay-per-view buy rates have remained steady, hovering around 100,000 buys.
Fans in the United Kingdom had two options when it came to purchasing AEW's events as they could either use FITE TV online or purchase it on their TV with ITV Box Office. However, ITV announced on January 24 that they would be closing their Box Office division, leaving fans without a traditional pay-per-view provider.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that ITV's decision looks set to hit the young promotion hard and cost them up to 20 percent of their pay-per-view audience. While many in the UK do purchase the shows on FITE, Meltzer noted that a strong percentage of AEW's audience refuse to buy internet only pay-per-views, which could result in a reduction of 15,000 to 20,000 buys.
Meltzer wrote: "In a move that will significantly hurt AEW’s PPV numbers going forward, ITV has dropped its entire PPV division. Right now the 2/29 Revolution show will be on FITE streaming and they are in talks with another television PPV provider in the U.K. but there aren’t that many options. ITV 4 would air the one hour pre-show live on television to push buys which made sense since they were partners and that also helped drive buys. U.K. television PPV usually meant around 15,000 to 20,000 buys, and while some will move to FITE, not everyone does so because a solid percentage of the audience still has an aversion to Internet only PPV."
Fans in the United Kingdom had two options when it came to purchasing AEW's events as they could either use FITE TV online or purchase it on their TV with ITV Box Office. However, ITV announced on January 24 that they would be closing their Box Office division, leaving fans without a traditional pay-per-view provider.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that ITV's decision looks set to hit the young promotion hard and cost them up to 20 percent of their pay-per-view audience. While many in the UK do purchase the shows on FITE, Meltzer noted that a strong percentage of AEW's audience refuse to buy internet only pay-per-views, which could result in a reduction of 15,000 to 20,000 buys.
Meltzer wrote: "In a move that will significantly hurt AEW’s PPV numbers going forward, ITV has dropped its entire PPV division. Right now the 2/29 Revolution show will be on FITE streaming and they are in talks with another television PPV provider in the U.K. but there aren’t that many options. ITV 4 would air the one hour pre-show live on television to push buys which made sense since they were partners and that also helped drive buys. U.K. television PPV usually meant around 15,000 to 20,000 buys, and while some will move to FITE, not everyone does so because a solid percentage of the audience still has an aversion to Internet only PPV."
Written by Aidan Gibbons
Editor-in-Chief of Cultaholic.com Twitter: @theaidangibbons
