I’m watching Monday night wrestling, which is not unusual, but this is the first time I’ve watched in a few weeks due to alternate programming. And it seems wrestling is reaching for viewers (for some reason) because I’m watching a cash giveaway game on the show. It’s a simple concept: you sign-up on the web site with your phone number and if your number is picked you win money. Pretty straight forward and it wouldn’t really get your attention, except for the fact that wrestling is a live show.
The gimmick with the giveaway is that your number could get called live on TV and you could win cash just like that. It’s old school, if you think about it, but I think it’s the way “interactive” television is meant to be done. We live in a time where every other show has a text message game, but you never really know if anyone really wins those contests. Sure, you’ll find out that “Robert S.” has won…but did he really? Is Robert S. real? You never know. But when someone is called on live television, the chances of it being a “real” person on the other end greatly increase.
Now you might be saying, “well, they can just rig the phone call.” Sure, they can, but watching tonight my thinking is that this is all legit for two reasons. First, the phone equipment didn’t work right away. Vince McMahon dialed the number and the phone call didn’t work. This is not something that would happen in a rigged contest and it you’d have to do some extra thinking to plan for a fake failure. Second, one call made tonight got a busy signal and another got a call-back song…two things that very real world. And lastly, the contest is not run by the WWE - they outsourced it, which gives it a little more credibility.
But why is it better than text message contests? Because this contest response is immediate. Watching the show I’ve now heard the phone call, I’ve heard the person on the other end…and they were real. The fact that they’ve put the winner on live TV instantly makes me want to enter because I out right know that I seemingly have a chance to win.
I will give credit to WWE for taking advantage of being a live program. Few other shows and games can take advantage and thus have to rely on text message games. Maybe it’s just because I’m not a texter, but I still think this type of direct contesting is far more effective. It’s nice to see that the simplest and most basic concepts still work when executed properly.
Million dollar giveaways?
What does the second W in WWE stand for?
It seems odd that the WWE is doing contests. I can’t remember them doing this before….maybe I wasn’t paying attention, always possible :) Are they struggling?
Well, it depends on who you ask. In the U.S., they’re not doing great. They’re not doing horribly, but I think they’d like to do better. Overseas though, is apparently a goldmine for them, and they’ve been making their biggest profits on their overseas tours.
Back in ‘95 or so, they gave away a house. And back in ‘99, Eric Bischoff masterminded a plan to have WCW give away a million in cash, but he came up with the plan a week or so before he was fired. And once they axed him, the powers that be (or powers that were) quietly snuffed out any giveaway.
OK, well, maybe they don’t work because WWE has suspended the contest for now which probably means forever. I admit there were some flaws in how it worked and looked on TV, but I think the fact that you knew someone won and it wasn’t just a name made a big difference. I got me to sign-up, which is more than I can say for any of the text message contests.