EA’s Weekly RAW YouTube Report (1/14/19)

A look at the YouTube performance for this week’s WWE RAW!

As we all know, social media and other outlets have become a huge means of drawing in interaction and viewers for WWE. Most people will point to television ratings like they did during the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990’s, however that can be skewed with so many various means of watching today that do not include cable television.

As you’ve become accustomed to, here is this week’s RAW YouTube Report (2:30 PM EST, 1/16/19):

1. Alexa Bliss is interrupted in her locker room – 3.7 million views
2. Braun Strowman flips Mr. McMahon’s limo – 3.3 million views
3. Fatal 4-Way Universal Title #1 Contender’s Match – 1.3 million views
4. Superstars look for their shot at Brock Lesnar – 1.2 million views
5. Intercontinental Title Triple Threat – 862k views
6. Otis Dozovic interrupts A Moment Of Bliss – 835k views
7. John Cena praises Finn Balor – 679k views

Well look at what comes in at number one! This segment that a lot of fans seem to be split over with Alexa Bliss being rudely walked in on while she was changing pulls big views. I’m not saying that this segment provided anything other than a little sex appeal to the program, but I really don’t understand why everyone needs to be so sensitive. This is still television people, whether it’s a wrestling company or not. WWE has told you for years they’re competing with every other television show out there, so they’re going to try things that can pull in all ages and groups of people. That includes males, teenage and young adult ones at that. I’m sure some of the same people (males) who have been complaining about how insulting it is are the ones who also drool over Alexa’s Instagram account.

At number two this week we have some more massive numbers as Braun Strowman loses his cool after Mr. McMahon stripped him of his Universal Title shot. News that this may go down broke just before RAW went off the air and the show led off with the angle, two things that I think helped interest in checking it out. Plus, let’s not downplay how big of a change this is either for one of the company’s most anticipated pay-per-views annually. Add all that together and you’ve got YouTube gold.

Sliding into the third and fourth spots are the fallout of Strowman losing his opportunity, as multiple Superstars were put into a position to earn that title shot for themselves. As I’ve explained in the past, a clip that has implications for big pay-per-view matches almost always do well. Add into that the star power of John Cena, still arguably the company’s most recognizable face and it’s hard to not have great numbers. So much so that Cena praising the eventual winner, Finn Balor, does better than other clips such as the reveal of the Women’s Tag Titles at number seven. Not a good start for those championships if you ask me.

In fifth this week is another big change from RAW, this time a title change as Bobby Lashley became the new Intercontinental Champion. Has WWE been reading my YouTube Reports? We’ve got a steady diet of clips this week that check all the boxes it takes to produce numbers. Pay-per-view implications, sex appeal, title change, top stars…RAW will continue to crush SmackDown Live on the regular if they keep this up.

Our final clip to touch on this week is number six, the first appearance of Heavy Machinery on the main roster. I’m hoping fans aren’t expecting the world from these guys because at the end of the day, they’re basically a comedy act, so this was the perfect introduction if you ask me. It was funny, got people who may be unfamiliar a small glimpse of them and it was a way for them to just dip their toes in the water. I’m not a big fan of how WWE is debuting all of the new call-ups, but I thought this was perfect for Otis and ‘Tucky’.