- In the latest issue of Sports Business Journal, the cover story was a piece on the aging audience of television viewers, pretty much across all sports.
- As far as wrestling goes, the story indicated that the median age of wrestling fans in 2000 as 28 years old, in 2006 it was 33, and by 2016 it was all the way up to 54. While 54 seems way too high, the belief is that Raw viewers average in the early 40s now and Smackdown a little higher, around mid-to-late 40s.
- These statistics highlight the fact that the fans who were in their late teens/early 20s in 1997 are now in their late 30s to early 40s and this demographic is largely still around. However, there has been a huge decrease in the number of kids and teenagers who are tuning in now compared to 20 years ago.
- One way to look at it from a live events perspective is that in the 80s and 90s, it was more kids who talked their parents into going to a wrestling event whereas now it is the other way around where it is parents who like wrestling who end up taking their kids, but these kids don’t watch it on TV.
- For those interested, the median age for other sports changed as follows from 2000 to 2016:
- – Figure skating: 54 to 64
– Horse racing: 51 to 63
– Men’s tennis: 51 to 61
– Women’s tennis: 58 to 56
– Olympics: 45 to 53
– College football: 47 to 52
– College basketball: 44 to 52
– NFL: 44 to 50
– NBA: 40 to 42
– NHL: 33 to 49
– MLB: 52 to 57
– Boxing: 45 to 49
– UFC: 34 to 49 (UFC did not have TV in 2000, so this change is from 2006 to 2016)Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Subscription information & prices available at f4wonline.com
Notes & Details on Median Age of Wrestling Fans Going up Substantially Since 2000
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