FIVE WAYS TO INCREASE HOUSE SHOW ATTENDANCE
By Todd Oblak on 1/11/2012 11:39 AM
5 Ways To Increase House Show Attendance/Revenue
Since hearing that WWE had put together a new house show set, it made me think about other reasons to get people to go to house shows and why attendance at them had not been flourishing recently. So here are my 5 ways I think WWE could increase house show attendance & revenue.
5. Merchandise giveaways/raffles
What gets people excited? Free stuff. But make them pay for the opportunity to get free stuff. Make every merchandise purchase (WWE souvenirs, not arena food items) get a "raffle ticket". Since it's 2012, we don't need to actually have a raffle ticket, but maybe you could include a QR coded ticket that the merchant selling would scan to "enter" the buyer into a raffle. Each QR code could have a code underneath that could be called out by the announcer and the fan could come into the ring to receive their prize. Advertise these raffles/giveaways in local advertising to increase ticket sales.
4. Dream Ring Entrance
What fan has never dreamed of their ring entrance? Make it a possibility at the start of the house shows. You can have the fan buy a "Dream Ring Entrance" ticket package to the show (make it like $500 or something so not everyone gets to do it but you can offer a WWE DVD and photograph of the ring entrance as part of the package). The fan could bring their own ring music or use one of the existing Superstars' music (since it's not on TV, you won't have to worry about copyright laws for using a song). The fan would have to sign a contract saying WWE is not liable if they hurt themselves in the ring and the fan gets to walk to the ring and do whatever they want and have it filmed for them as a keepsake. The crowd would get a kick out of it because I'm sure there would be some funny moments. WWE would make $$ and friends and family would buy tickets to see the entrance. It sounds like a win-win situation to me. Again, advertise this as something you can do and people will come.
3. Fans In The Ring
As an addition to the above, what fan has never just wanted to step into the ring, climb the turnbuckle or take a photo with one of their favorite wrestlers in the ring? You can make this a contest or part of a ticket package like above where fans could pay the price of their ticket plus $100 to be able to walk in the ring with their choice of 1 of say 3-5 Superstars before the show and have their picture taken with the wrestler. I'm sure fans would pay and more would come if they knew they could meet and greet their favorites in the ring. Again, this would need to be advertised locally so fans knew about it.
2. Wider range of ticket prices and seat freebies
Tickets in the upper areas of the arena should be very cheap, no more than $10-15. Tickets on the front row should be no more than $50. The range of ticket prices could be wider so every budget could be accomodated and fans could feel like they can come to the live events on a smaller budget than say going to a TV or PPV event. Give fans in the cheap seats reason to pay more for lower seating. Front row should get a program or something with their ticket. 2nd section floor seats could get a coupon for a free beverage and those tickets should be no more than $40. First level of the arena could get $5 credit toward a merchandise purchase and be $30 or less, etc.
1. Advertise with kids in mind
The best way to get fans in the door at house shows is advertising locally and have kids in mind. Flyers at the local toy stores or retail where kids will be (Toys R Us, Kmart, Walmart, etc). Commercials shown on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and other kids' channels, along with during RAW, SmackDown, etc. are what truly drives attendance. The Commercials should show kids having fun at the show. A random shot of a match between Randy Orton and Christian does not make fans want to come as much as seeing other kids interacting with their favorite superstars and seeing what the show looks like live. Kids will plead with parents about going to the show and if the above 4 items are included in the ads, revenue and attendance will increase.
