by WWE SmackDown is an flagship show of WWE. It has been running weekly for a longtime. SmackDown is currently aired on FOX every Friday, but their deal is set to expire next year.
USA Network brought the streaming rights for SmackDown, USA network will start airing SmackDown from Oct 2024. As of now there is no update from USA Network or WWE for NXT and WWE RAW streaming rights.
Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics is reporting that according to adage.com it costs $51,077 to run ads during WWE SmackDown
Want to run an ad during Smackdown? It’ll cost you about $51,077, according to AdAge. Up 8% from about $47,119 last year. Smackdown is second only to ABC’s Shark Tank among Friday night broadcast shows, despite routinely beating Shark Tank in P18-49.
Implies about a $65 CPM (based on 789k P18-49 average last 365 days) which is a lot higher than I’d have guessed. How much does Smackdown generate in ad revenue then? Figure 20 units per hour, 40 units per show = about $2M per episode. Fox is paying WWE about $4M per episode, a lot more than Fox covers in ad sales, which is common with sports and universal for wrestling shows. Carriage fees and marketing value are part of the justification too. Whatever the math was for Fox, they obviously calculated they were better off doing something else with Friday nights starting next year this time.
Want to run an ad during Smackdown? It'll cost you about $51,077, according to AdAge.
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) October 31, 2023
Up 8% from about $47,119 last year.
Smackdown is second only to ABC's Shark Tank among Friday night broadcast shows, despite routinely beating Shark Tank in P18-49. pic.twitter.com/ARwiRqGDqR
