There are a variety of communication tools used in the sports industry. create a SWOT analysis which analyzes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with each sport communic

Television

WWE has a well-established global appeal and distribution. Its programming is on TV in many countries around the world. It’s the only wrestling company that doe such broad international tours and has international business relationships. Thurston, B (2020)

S: Live show with a live audience.

W: Over saturation of shows can wear down viewers.

O: Increased viewer ratings and gaining new fan base.

T: Covid-19 showed the difference in production value when the live audience is taken away from TV experience.

Radio

Play by play or how it’s referred to in the wrestling world, move by move commentary has been a part of wrestling for decades. Each show on WWE has two to three commentators give the listeners at home a layout of what’s going on in the ring.

S: Amazing play by play commentary and excitement in their voice when telling the story.

W: Not the same as in person experience.

O: Multi-lingual commentary desk for further out reach.

T: Viewers inability to listen in due to no radio access.

Online/Internet

If you’re wondering how to watch WWE online, Peacock is now the place to be. Through the NBC streaming service, you’ll be able to watch WWE events online and on demand. Hartzog, O (2022). WWE is making sure to use online sources to gain as much viewership as possible for their weekly shows.

S: Able to watch past events and reruns of shows.

W: WWE is singled out to one streaming service.

O: Gaining of viewers from online.

T: Must get a subscription to Peacock to watch live events. Might push away viewers.

Print

It’s not as common in today’s digital world, but you can still find many wrestling magazines. WWE also has comic books inspired by some of their more popular wrestling stars. Older magazines or prints of some sort have become a collectors item for the more hardcore fans.

S: Memorabilia for hardcore fans.

W: Not as strong of an advertisement for upcoming shows or Pay Per Views.

O: Could adhere to the old school fans and reach a certain percentage of new fans.

T: Not a viable source of expansion or revenue gain. Could be viewed as a waste of money that could be put to other resources.

Social Media

Social media might be the biggest changes of the last 10 years. With social media, the fans now have the ability to have direct communication with their favorite wrestler. This has also allowed some Superstars to show who they really are to the world. Also, now WWE can just search on Twitter for #WWE to see what the fans think they’re doing right and wrong. Mueller, D (2013)

S: Many different platforms to use as an outreach to new and current fans.

W: Wrestlers no longer have that kayfabe aspect to their character.

O: Wrestlers have the ability to get themselves over through the use of their social media platform.

T: Potential spoilers for high level shows.

Wireless/Mobile

Wireless/ Mobile communication systems are great for both the WWE and the consumer. WWE used this to launch their WWE app for everything wrestling. The consumer has many different applications to use to keep track of everything wrestling from places like Reddit and Sportskeeda.

S: Fans can keep track of wrestling no matter where they’re at through their mobile device.

W: Personnel using mobile device will be dependent on service or WiFi capabilities

O: Outreach of apps and how WWE can use the apps to their advantage.

T: Higher use of mobile device could take away from weekly show viewership.