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Fox Unleashes Ad Blitz to Make Good on $1 Billion ‘Smackdown’ Bet

Fox Unleashes Ad Blitz to Make Good on $1 Billion ‘Smackdown’ Bet

(Bloomberg) -- If you watch football on Fox, there’s no missing the incessant commercials for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.’s “Friday Night SmackDown,” which on the network this week.

The hullabaloo extends far beyond football telecasts — to Fox News, Major League Baseball, golf, even the Emmy Awards, where viewers were inundated with clips of pile-drivers and body slams.

“We really have gone crazy,” said Eric Shanks, chief executive officer of Fox Sports.

The effort shows just how important WWE and its young male audience are to Fox, especially after the network’s parent sold two-thirds of its business to Walt Disney Co. The now-smaller Fox Corp. spent a reported $1 billion for five years of rights to the weekly wrestling show, part of a huge bet that live entertainment can continue to attract large audiences.

The resources devoted to the WWE launch are unprecedented, according to Robert Gottlieb, Fox Sports’ executive vice president and head of marketing, eclipsing what’s been done for the Super Bowl and World Cup. The company estimates it has generated more than 1.4 billion impressions.

“In terms of just volume it’s the biggest, most significant marketing endeavor we’ve ever done in launching something,” Gottlieb said.

Besides the somewhat standard cross-promotional appearances by WWE stars like Carmella, Roman Reigns and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who will make his return to wrestling for the “SmackDown” debut, the rollout includes a number of components. 

  • Deals with with Mattel Inc. and Walmart Inc. to sell action figures featuring Fox Sports branding.
  • WWE personality-specific playlists on Pandora.
  • An augmented reality program for Facebook and Instagram that lets users insert their faces on wrestlers.
  • A moving van accompanied by WWE stars on a 16-city tour making stops at Fox affiliates and marquee sporting events on the network.

Fox sees the WWE — with its average nightly viewers of more than 2 million previously on the USA network — filling a hole in the schedule. Fox already has the NFL on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons, and college football on Saturdays. Shanks says “Friday Night SmackDown,” starting live at 8 p.m. New York time, will bolster Fox’s attempt to own the weekend.

“That’s the real strategic push,” he said. “If we get this long weekend right — Thursday through Sunday — it’s going to be a powerhouse of its own and have the effect of helping out Monday through Thursday, too, on the entertainment side.”

Fox could use the help.

The network ranked last among the big four broadcasters in total audience in the 12 months that ended in September. It was third among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers that advertisers target, close behind No. 2 CBS. It’s also currently in a contract dispute with Dish Network Corp., which has blacked out the network to some of that company’s 14 million viewers.

So far, though, the addition of Thursday Night Football and the unscripted competition show “The Masked Singer” have helped lift Fox’s ratings in the new TV season.

WWE, with the religious-like following of its fans, plays into Fox’s commitment to live programming.

“A live-event strategy is the key to the future of network TV in general and Fox specifically,” Gottlieb said. “The commitment to put all of our guns was a no-brainer given the tactical and strategic plan that we’ve been building.”

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob GolumJohn J Edwards III

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