Earlier today on the Fightful Select Portions recapping news from the week, one notable piece for TNA comes out of the report:
-Several sources within TNA claimed that the company has doubled TNA+ subscribers over the last year. Much in part to a number of the marketing names that were fired.
-Fightful Select
This comes after Voices of Wrestling and Brace For IMPACT host/podcaster Mike Gilbert put out a fantastic Tweet on 3/26, relaying information from one of the recently fired talents, plus others.
Ive heard from people within TNA who wanted to highlight some of the hard work and successes of a few of the employees that were let go today that you probably never heard of.
–Regarding Chief Revenue Officer Rob Kligman and Digital Department head Michael Shewchenko: Exclusive insight from someone close to the team paints a fuller picture of Kligman’s impact: “Rob was doing a great job—got close to a million in ad-sales in under 12 months. Guy is the real deal. Topps, VitaCoco, all the movies, were him.”
–“Shewchenko and Karen Cleavett were leading social, and TNA+. Michael was responsible for the shift from Impact Plus to TNA+ with Endeavor Streaming, which made the app actually usable.” The TNA+ crew also moved Impact from on-demand to simulcast on TNA+ to give people without AXS TV a way to watch until a US deal came, leading them to DOUBLING the apps business.
- Should be noted multiple people reached out to me to put over Shewchenko’s work.
-Romy Glazer, a contractor in TNA’s marketing department, ran marketing for TNA+ beginning last year, then when Lou Diangeli was let go, she took over digital live event marketing & media with Ross Forman and worked ad sales with Rob Kligman. Glazer was coordinating Joe Hendry with USC Athletics just recently which is a big time move for TNA.
- The marketing and ad sales team that Anthem is moving on from modernized their strategies which helped lead to selling out 7 TNA+ events just last year and expanded into TV and streaming buys in December, and coordinated high-profile collaborations—like the BLCKSMTH clothing line and a VitaCoco content deal that “became one of their top pieces of content ever (2.1M views on IG).”
-Sebastian Dastranj, meanwhile, was a “Swiss army knife” who “rolled his sleeves up,” running Smash Wrestling in Canada while reviving TNA’s merchandise efforts and assisting with backstage social content— Again multiple people put over Dastranj to me.
I spoke to the same person, who relayed to me that they’re not sad upon their release, rather grateful for the opportunity they were given.
“Honestly, I’m just happy to have played a part in the growth. I got to pull all nighters with the Hardys, write emails to fans about wrestling, run advertising to get people to come to our shows, buy TV ads, do a collab with BLCKSMTH, made content for VitaCoco, just like…everything — and it was working.”
This group, although largely unknown to most fans, played a big part in the reinvigoration of the current business of TNA.
This is great news, and speaks the the overall growth of the company, including live event sell outs, record company live event gates, and overall buzz surrounding the company are all UP.
On 3/25 – per pwinsider.com – TNA President Carlos Silva also announced the company will welcome a new Senior Vice President of Digital, David Clevinger next month. Clevinger has worked with The NFL, NBC Universal, UFC, The NBA and more.
A new Senior Vice President of Sales, Nicole Rachine, started with the company this month. She previously worked for World Team Tennis.
Head over to TNAMerch.com for all of your official TNA merchandise!
Make sure you watch all the stars of TNA WRESTLING EVERY Thursday!
–AXSTV in USA
–TNA+ App. Sign up here. (Watch weekly iMPACT! episode simulcasted at the same time as AXS TV – 8pm Eastern /7pm Central)
–SportsNet 360 in CANADA
Catch the REPLAYS of TNA iMPACT:
–Right Now TV Network – multiple markets in the US (9-11pm Eastern time Tuesdays // episode from the previous week)
–SportsNet Pittsburgh– Pittsburgh, PA (Thursdays 10pm Eastern)
–New England Sports Network National Feed – 6 different states in the Northeast (Saturday 12-2pm Eastern, Sundays 12-2 am Eastern)
–Fight Network (13 day delay)/ TNA + app(14 day delay) – Canada
Help support Chris Bey by purchasing the “We Heart Bey” T-Shirt. All proceeds go to Chris Bey.
Here: https://tnamerch.com/collections/all-new-t-shirts/products/we-heart-bey-t-shirt?variant=46760894791904
Bey’s new “Greatest Story Ever Told” shirt from Pro Wrestling Tees: https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/wrestler-t-shirts/chrisbey/greatest-story-ever-told.html
Other ways to help: https://tnawrestling.com/bey/
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https://www.gofundme.com/f/jake-needs-your-help-for-medical-bills
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