WWE PPV buyrates, Sky Box Office buys/viewing rates?

jaykhunter

I'm sure WWE will see the backlash of reneging on the Survivor Series stipulation with a poor TLC buyrate, and deservedly so.

edit : The Nexus storyline following SSeries really killed my cautious optimism I've had for the last while. Barrett turned from an uber-smart heel into the village idiot, after vowing to never give Cena his job back despite him terrorising the nexus, he does just that 3 weeks later, only if he faces Cena in a fair match. Which he loses clean. Arrgh!!!! lol

reynolsg87

Haha no, I'm far from a Hogan mark. You just need to remember that ALL anybody did in the US for those first few weeks was focus on the war so I'd say it had a definite affect on the buyrate. I heard it only did 550,000 or something in that region.

I mean Angle/Lesnar, Rock/Austin & Mcmahon/Hogan on paper should do a lot more buys than Benoit/HHH/Michaels, Angle/Guerrero & Goldberg/Lesnar.

Who knows for sure though?

jaykhunter

Update from today's conference call on PPV buys

2010 WWE PPV # of Buys (Worldwide)

Royal Rumble 462,000 (up from 450,000 in 2009)
Elimination Chamber 285,000 (up from No Way Out's 272,000 in 2009)
WrestleMania 26 885,000 (down from 960,000 in 2009)
Extreme Rules 182,000 (same as Backlash 2009)
Over The Limit 197,000 (down from 228,000 for Judgment Day 2009)
Fatal 4 Way 143,000 (second lowest # PPV buys in history; down from Extreme Rules 2009's 213,000 buys)

WWE dropped The Bash completely, last year it drew 178,000 buys
MITB 165,000 (last year's NoC drew 267,000)
SummerSlam 350,000 (down from 369,000 last year)
Night of Champions 165,000 (similar to Breaking Point's 169,000 last year)
Hell in a Cell - 210,000 buys (last year drew 283,000)
Bragging Rights - 137,000 buys (last year drew 181,000) (the day after UFC 121 Lesnar Vs Velasquez)
Survivor Series - 244,000 buys (last year drew 235,000 buys)
TLC - 195,000 buys (last year drew 228,000)

---

So doing the maths from 2010 to 2009 :
Rumble : +12,000
EC : +13,000
WrestleMania : -75,000
April PPV : same
May : -31,000
June : -70,000
July - WWE dropped the Bash : -178,000
July PPV : -102,000
SummerSlam : -19,000
September PPV : -4,000
Hell in a Cell : -73,000
Bragging Rights : -44,000
Survivor Series : +9,000
TLC : -33,000

---

WWE are down 595,000 buys from 2009 i.e. almost 600,000 buys down from last year! :eek:

parker kent

Those numbers pretty clearly show that people are protesting about the WWE with their feet. How they cannot see that people are not happy (other than kids in Cena t-shirts), I really do not know.

parker kent

Good reaction piece to the financial figures released by the WWE.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/wadekellerdotcom/47628.shtml

There are a lot of headlines coming out of today's WWE financials for Q4 2010 and Vince McMahon's conference call. Here are some of my thoughts...

-Alarming drops in PPV buys from 2009 to 2010. I was outspoken against the price raise from $39.95 to $54.95 (for HD, which most people consider standard viewing now, especially those who can afford PPVs regularly). Even a $5 price raise for non-HD to $44.95 I thought was going to do damage. I think it did. There are other factors, including online illegal pirating of PPV feeds, that is eating into the numbers, but the economy is not a great excuse. The economy was worse in 2009 than 2010. How bad were the numbers? Hell in a Cell dropped 25 percent. Bragging Rights dropped 25 percent. TLC dropped 10 percent. Only Survivor Series went up, from 235,000 to 244,000.

-Even with the price raise, PPV revenues dropped from Q4 in 2009 to Q4 in 2010, from $16.3 million to $13.8 million. If WWE is willing to take another step back in order to rebuild their PPV audience, a price drop is in order. I just don't think - as the DVD industry recently and the CD industry before that found out - people are willing to pay such high prices. It looks like price gouging. In the long run, for PPV to survive, WWE has to lead the way in dropping the price. I'd even argue for a drastic drop to $24.95. Rebuild that base in a couple years go back up to $34.95 and stay there.

-If they dropped the price of PPVs, PPV revenue figure would likely drop for at least a year, but I believe it would give them a better chance to avoid the complete disappearance of PPV as a major revenue source in the long-run. The erosion can be reversed with reasonable pricing, as interpreted by a fanbase that has so many cheap or free choices now compared to just 3-5 years ago.

-House show revenue was also down 15 percent in the U.S. and 11 percent overseas, which is one piece of evidence that passion for the product in general has also sagged overall.

-In his report at PWTorch earlier, one big fact James Caldwell pulled from all of the data is that in 2007 WWE reported 2.1 percent more PPV revenue compared to TV rights revenue, whereas in 2010 WWE reported 44.7 percent more TV rights revenue than PPV revenue. That's a big flip, and it's one of the reasons WWE continues to push so hard to pop big TV ratings even sometimes at the expense of PPVs. I think it's a false choice as there are ways to sustain TV ratings strategically and more efficiently than just giving away big name match-ups every week, sometimes on short notice. But that's another editorial for another day.

-Otherwise a lot of the revenue categories were relatively steady. The biggest drop was DVD sales, down $4.6 million (44 percent), but licensing revenue was up $4.3 million to offset it.

-It'll be interesting how the WWE Network develops. The future may be along these lines for many entities, including the NFL and even Oprah with her own themed-network. The "middle-man" such as USA Network may be less important as the TV landscape changes and the way people access shows changes, with moves toward Hulu, Netflix, and OnDemand programming. It could be a great channel for pro wrestling fans, given WWE's incredible library of wrestling shows it owns from past decades of WWF and then-competitors. Being able to watch, sequentially, many past pro wrestling shows, past PPVs, the original Tough Enoughs, house shows from Boston Garden and MSG, Tuesday Night Titans, the 24/7 Roundtables, and more could fill considerable time, although it's likely they'd branch out beyond just pro wrestling shows on a WWE network with some reality-style shows, combat-themed game shows, and movies that match their action-adventure targeted demographics.

-Vince McMahon talking about a new-star initiative being on display at WrestleMania makes me think Undertaker will be facing Wade Barrett, not someone from the outside. Barrett, even in losing, would benefit from being in such a high-profile angle and match. If they go with Triple H vs. Undertaker, it makes short-term business sense, but it might be a lost opportunity to elevate someone else. Barrett is ready, I believe, for that lofty position. Having C.M. Punk, Miz, and Alberto Del Rio opposite established stars Randy Orton, John Cena, and Edge, will further cement McMahon's comments that WM is going to be used as a tool to elevate new stars. When asked to name the next potential Cena, McMahon included Orton on his list along with Del Rio and Miz. Orton is more of the Cena generation than Miz is, and Orton has probably peaked as a draw. He just doesn't seem to have much beyond what we've seen. My judgment might be clouded by his half-hearted house show performance against Miz that I saw last Friday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. It must be a bit of a letdown to Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, C.M. Punk, even Wade Barrett that McMahon doesn't list them along with Del Rio and Miz.

jaykhunter

I'd have to imagine that CM Punk just slipped Vince's mind, as he's the focal point of RAW these days. That and seeing Cena-Orton headline PPVs for the last 4 years, Orton's name immediately springs to mind.

I used to think Orton had a long career ahead of him, as well as his wrestling being very safe...problem is, he's been over-used these last few years, and is made of glass!

He could really do with leaving for TNA for 2-3 years

Charisteas

jaykhunter wrote: »

WrestleMania 26 885,000 (down from 960,000 in 2009)

Wrestlemania 23 = 1,200,000
Wrestlemania 24 = 1,058,000
Wrestlemania 25 = 960,000
Wrestlemania 26 = 885,000

With a decline 4 years running, any early predictions for this years Mania buyrate? Or is it too early to take a guess?

Some factors to consider -

Most of the top matches have already been made now, obviously with the money-maker being Undertaker Vs. HHH. Remains to be seen how many fence-sitters will want to pay for a card with the two title matches featuring rookie main-eventers Miz and Del-Rio.

Also remains to be seen exactly what role The Rock will play at Wrestlemania on top of hosting (rumours of being special guest in the Miz/Cena match) and what roles, if any, Michaels and Austin will have.

There is still just about enough time to lure in a celebrity or two to slightly up the ratings, which has worked in the past with Mayweather and Trump bumping buyrates to over a million each.

There is also a factor of the PPV being available to purchase in more countries, i'm not sure about this, but I know that they have just signed a TV deal in Brazil (a massively populated country) and launched a new Polish website.

jaykhunter

^^^ Should've answered this earlier really, lol.

My "playing it safe" prediction is a bottom of 850k and ceiling of 950k.

I think the Rock's inclusion has duped a lot of casual/non-fans into thinking it's gonna be Rock Cena. That's how they've been pushing the last 2 months of RAW and from what i've seen, it's worked. Snooki might hook a few buys thanks to the publicity.

I know Elimination Chamber was horrific (191,000 buys) but I think having a poorly performing Feb show would help Mania ("I didn't buy that one, we have money/i'd like to see a WWE PPV/I'll buy it since we didn't last time"). I keep thinking of 2003 where No Way Out (Rock & Austin return -- my how times have changed :P) where NWO got 500,000 and WMXIX did 560,000. But if they put on a crap show like NWO 2006 (218,000), Mania gets focus and 975,000!)

Where i'm digressing to is that WWE have successfully hoodwinked the casual audience into thinking Rock/Cena. There's a "hardcore Mania buying crowd who buy every year" of maybe 750,000 so I think they've done it. Kinda.

Final guess, 925,000. Better than last year but somewhat disappointing.

What do you reckon?

jaykhunter

Oh just to update people

Estimated/Reported so far 2011 WWE PPV buyrates :
Royal Rumble : 449,000 (down a little bit from 462,000 in 2010)
No Way Out : 191,000 :eek: (fell off a cliff! last year's 272,000)

jaykhunter

Viewing figures for March 3's iMPACT, and the following week's RAW and SmackDown.

TNA iMPACT! on ChallengeTV
Total 163,000

WWE RAW on Sky Sports
Total : 242,000
Breakdown : 154 (live) + 41 (Thursday replay) + 47 (Friday replay)

WWE SmackDown on Sky Sports
Total : 186,000
Breakdown : 150 (Friday) + 36 (Saturday replay)

The week prior sees RAW on 235,000 total, SD! with 137,000, and iMPACT! with 164,000 (highest all time rating)

Source : http://www.pwinsider.com/article/56284/updated-wwe-and-tna-uk-ratings-from-the-last-few-weeks.html?p=1

So from these UK figures we see iMPACT battling SmackDown (so legitimately they can say some weeks that they beat SmackDown) but get about 65% of RAW's Ratings.

Machismo Fan

May as well throw this here: http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=57541

The return of Dwayne Johnson and the decision to use Jersey Shore star Snooki paid off big-time for WWE as Variety is reporting that the company's flagship PPV scored one million buys.

Final numbers are not yet in, but the trade publication noted that buys are up 30% in North America and up to 15% overseas, according to the company.

Wrestlemania 26, featuring Shawn Michaels' retirement, generated 885,000 orders.

Wrestlemania 25, headlined by Randy Orton vs. Triple H and the first Undertaker vs. Michaels classic, scored 960,000 buys.

The Variety piece also credited WWE's marketing leading into the PPV as a factor, as the company smartly had their performers all over different television show for appearances, ranging from talk shows to the "Cake Boss" reality show.

rossie1977

if those numbers are correct and domestic buys are up 30% and overseas up 15% then mania27 did about 1.1 million buys

Rjd2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iMATYbejXM

BUYS.

D2D

Link

In WWE's most recent monthly business report, the preliminary estimate for Wrestlemania 27 was 1,042,000 buys worldwide. WWE had stated recently that the show was estimated at drawing more than one million buys, while other sources reported the same.

Source: PWInsider.com

Rjd2

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Link

In WWE's most recent monthly business report, the preliminary estimate for Wrestlemania 27 was 1,042,000 buys worldwide. WWE had stated recently that the show was estimated at drawing more than one million buys, while other sources reported the same.

Source: PWInsider.com

Good numbers, however net year we will have Cena v Rock the Mania 2007 record could be smashed. Lets not forget you will have Taker going for 20-0 and maybe Rey v Cara which should eat up some Hispanic buys. Maybe even to top it off get Austin back for one more match?

However they better not forget they have PPV'S before that though..:pac:

Charisteas

Rjd2 wrote: »

Good numbers, however net year we will have Cena v Rock the Mania 2007 record could be smashed. Lets not forget you will have Taker going for 20-0 and maybe Rey v Cara which should eat up some Hispanic buys. Maybe even to top it off get Austin back for one more match?

However they better not forget they have PPV'S before that though..:pac:

Austin Vs Tough Enough winner

jaykhunter

Charisteas wrote: »

Austin Vs Tough Enough winner

OK but you have to tell CM Punk his match with Austin is off!

Charisteas

jaykhunter wrote: »

OK but you have to tell CM Punk his match with Austin is off!

CM Punk will be long gone by next WrestleMania!

Ok so lets book Austin Vs Luke, and maybe get Jeremiah Vs Brock Lesnar in an MMA style match; ratings or not?!

jaykhunter

While WWE has yet to release the buy number for last month's Over The Limit pay-per-view event, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the show is estimated to have garnered 65,000 buys in the United States (based on trending patterns as well as actual cable reports).

Should this number hold up, it would be WWE's least watched pay-per-view event in nearly five years. The 2006 pay-per-view event December To Dismember drew approximately 90,000 pay-per-view buys, with 55,000 of them domestic—the lowest buyrate in company history.

To show the accuracy of trending numbers, they would have indicated 90,000 for TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (real number was 101,000), 260,000 for Royal Rumble (real number 264,000), 160,000 for Elimination Chamber (real number 136,000) and 630,000 for WrestleMania XXVII (real number 617,000).

Over The Limit was headlined by John Cena vs. The Miz, Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler, and Randy Orton vs. Christian.

The final tally will be roughly double that; i.e. 120,000 worldwide, give or take 10,000.

My reaction : Yes. They deserve it for churning out the same ****. We've come to accept "Backlash" to have the same matches as WrestleMania, but fúck me, OTL had the same matches again. Storylines don't have a start, middle and end; they just peter out long after people stopped caring.

Like the heel Michael Cole storyline; which should've ended at Mania but they "got" two more months out of it. Ultimately Vince is to blame and need only to look in the mirror, and who the champions are, when looking to why fans are sick of WWE's shít.

That said, I think Truth is doing great and i hope the undoubtedly low buyrate CP will get doesn't deter this guy from his mic time. It's on fire right now.

Rjd2

jaykhunter wrote: »

The final tally will be roughly double that; i.e. 120,000 worldwide, give or take 10,000.

My reaction : Yes. They deserve it for churning out the same ****. We've come to accept "Backlash" to have the same matches as WrestleMania, but fúck me, OTL had the same matches again. Storylines don't have a start, middle and end; they just peter out long after people stopped caring.

Like the heel Michael Cole storyline; which should've ended at Mania but they "got" two more months out of it. Ultimately Vince is to blame and need only to look in the mirror, and who the champions are, when looking to why fans are sick of WWE's shít.

That said, I think Truth is doing great and i hope the undoubtedly low buyrate CP will get doesn't deter this guy from his mic time. It's on fire right now.

Was their a UFC PPV that weekend? That will always eat into business no matter how good the show. However that number is still dire.

With this and falling WWE stock numbers and poor house show attendances, Vince has to be worried.

Also all Buys have been down this year except Mania which done great numbers, no wonder Vince dedicated a Raw to him..:pac:;)

parker kent

I think these figures show that all the WWE rants on here over the last 2 years have been spot on. They have made so many idiotic decisions and it was always going to lead to reduced PPV buyrates.

Hygro

Would an idea for the WWE to cut back on PPV's. I'm not saying go back to only 4 ppv a year (like the glory days of the 80's/early 90's) but maybe 6? I mean not only could it make more people actually buy the event (as they're on so "rarely") but it would cut down on the wwe's on cost of staging so many of the bloody things.

waltersobchak

Hygro wrote: »

Would an idea for the WWE to cut back on PPV's. I'm not saying go back to only 4 ppv a year (like the glory days of the 80's/early 90's) but maybe 6? I mean not only could it make more people actually buy the event (as they're on so "rarely") but it would cut down on the wwe's on cost of staging so many of the bloody things.

I think WWE's mentality of 14 PPV's doing 100,000+ is better than 6 doing 200,000+ and honestly i'll never understand that.. Personally i think the oversaturation of WWE PPV's makes it completely justified for fans to no longer see PPV as a big deal(like they use to be) and therefore stream it online for free.. Hell its a global recession and WWE expect fans to fork out $50 a PPV 14 times a year, for the same unmitigated bullsh*t, Main Events with the same rinse, wash, repeat storylines and feuds..

jaykhunter

That's exactly right. They've save more money doing half the PPVs and double the buyrates; even from a PPV provider point of view; not to mention giving their talent a few more days off.

I don't think WWE will ever drop below 12; as Vince'll see that as a sign of weakness etc; as opposed to good business sense. (i hate jumping from one company to the other) but TNA have the same misplaced pride about 12 PPVs/year despite losing money on the vast majority.

On a different point, despite WWE's buyrates going down the ****ter, the slack IS picked up by added licencing their name/merchandise etc so they're only 1-2 million less profit than last year.

(The following are guesses on my part.) That said, online piracy would only be by maybe 10,000 people; who likely wouldn't pay for the PPV if it weren't available. The cross-over of UFC/WWE PPV-buying fans might be 20,000 at best...So not enough to explain why a PPV is down 60,000-100,000 buys. It's their "same shít different PPV" mentality that's to blame. Storylines don't have a start, middle and end, they just peter out long past their sell by date. Proof? They 'got' 2 more PPVs out of Cole/Lawler, and who are the champions now? Those fresh young upstarts!!

Machismo Fan

jaykhunter wrote: »

That's exactly right. They've save more money doing half the PPVs and double the buyrates; even from a PPV provider point of view; not to mention giving their talent a few more days off.

I don't think less PPV's is the answer, I don't think half the PPV's necessarily means double the buyrates. What if it turns out to be half the PPV's with the same buyrates because of the usual crappy build and uninteresting matches?

jaykhunter

That'd be hilarious! I'd have to think that having less PPVs would force WWE's hand book build towards them and make them worthwhile, for fear of that happening! If they had 6 PPVs/year and had the same exact show but have the 6 other PPVs as 3 hour RAWs it might very well happen - half the total ppv buys.... That might be what's stopping them. That and the pride, and the deal with the PPV companies.

D2D

Source:

WWE received some good news and bad news when it comes to the May 2011 PPV events.

Extreme Rules on 5/1 ended up producing the second worst domestic PPV buyrate in company history with a preliminatry estimate of 65,000 buys (December 2 Dismember in 2006 holds the record with 52,000 buys) or 138,000 buys worldwide.

Over The Limit on 5/15, just two weeks later, rebounded for the company drawing an estimated 220,000 buys worldwide with 113,000 domestic. This is up from last year's show that drew 197,000 buys, although the overseas market definitely helped out with the number.

Africa

Will be very interesting to see what MITB is like.

I still wont pay for them though save the Rumble and Mania.

jaykhunter

That's odd, I thought it would've been the opposite way around - Extreme Rules is usually the actual finish of Mania and is generally a very good show - although this year WWE stretched out the feuds until Over the Limit.

Extreme Rules was headlined by Cena jobbing out Miz/Morrison in a cage, and Christian beating Del Rio for the WHC in a ladder match.

Over the Limit saw the actual end to the Lawler/Cole feud, Cena beating Miz and Orton retaining against Christian.

I imagine that MITB will have a noticeable bump in buy-rates - maybe 250,000 because of the high interest due to Punk's situation.

Rjd2

jaykhunter wrote: »

That's odd, I thought it would've been the opposite way around - Extreme Rules is usually the actual finish of Mania and is generally a very good show - although this year WWE stretched out the feuds until Over the Limit.

Extreme Rules was headlined by Cena jobbing out Miz/Morrison in a cage, and Christian beating Del Rio for the WHC in a ladder match.

Over the Limit saw the actual end to the Lawler/Cole feud, Cena beating Miz and Orton retaining against Christian.

I imagine that MITB will have a noticeable bump in buy-rates - maybe 250,000 because of the high interest due to Punk's situation.

What makes it more bizarre, did OTL not have a huge UFC fight that weekend as well.

jaykhunter

Rjd2 wrote: »

What makes it more bizarre, did OTL not have a huge UFC fight that weekend as well.

That's odd! wtf... but i don't think there's that much overlap between the PPV buying WWE audience and UFC...... Although if Brock's fighting i'd say it more than doubles. Whatcha reckon?

GTR63

Rjd2 wrote: »

What makes it more bizarre, did OTL not have a huge UFC fight that weekend as well.

No Rampage fought Hamill about a week later,i'd expect a buy bump for MitB but I don't think 200k buys should be anything for WWE to throw their hats into the air about.

jaykhunter

Last year 200k was their litmus test for success or disappointment; I think their average has dropped; maybe 175,000 now? (if someone wants to do the maths )

That said their licensing revenue is way up so they're overall only maybe 4 million down/year.

rovert

WWE's Capitol Punishment PPV garnered 200,000 buys, according to business figures released for the month of June 2011 on WWE's corporate website. That preliminary figure is up from 143,000 buys for the June 2010 Fatal Four Way PPV, the concept of which was dropped as a PPV event.

PWInsider

rovert

The figure Punk needs to beat

jaykhunter

That's great news for WWE. 200,000 is well above the norm of their b-side shows.

It wasn't exactly a stellar card, but maybe WWE can thank all the little Jimmy's for buying the PPV

Very much looking forward to seeing what MITB did.

rovert

jaykhunter wrote: »

That's great news for WWE. 200,000 is well above the norm of their b-side shows.

It wasn't exactly a stellar card, but maybe WWE can thank all the little Jimmy's for buying the PPV

Very much looking forward to seeing what MITB did.

It would be hilariously tragic if Capitol Punishment beats MITB

rovert

Dave Meltzer:

Preliminary indications have Money in the Bank doing in the range of double what Capitol Punishment did in the United States although it won’t be until the end of August when WWE releases a number.

Yay

jaykhunter

I read on another forum that Capitol Punishment was now more likely around 175,000 lemme know if u read any updates. It's probably way too early to tell but fingers crossed for MITB/Punk. If it bombs and with the "nascar-impaired" ratings they might just panic book

rovert

jaykhunter wrote: »

I read on another forum that Capitol Punishment was now more likely around 175,000 lemme know if u read any updates. It's probably way too early to tell but fingers crossed for MITB/Punk. If it bombs and with the "nascar-impaired" ratings they might just panic book

WWE rounded up hoping that there is more buy is to come in for that show.

The actual figure is closer to 175k.

It is in the bottom 4 of all time low buy rates.

jaykhunter

Cheers. Low domestically (top 10 worst domestic WWE PPV numbers) but they've had worldwide PPVs end up in the 140,000 region! Average worldwide is about 175,000 so it's not the end of the world. Although domestic buys bring in about double the revenue as international buys; and US buys are in general quite down.

jaykhunter

BrianMercy from another forum quoted WON; think it's worth a gander :

Each PPV the WWE puts out is divided three ways:

10% goes to the Cable/Satellight companies (Cablevision, Time Warner, Dish Network, DirectTV)
40% goes to the WWE
50% goes to the PPV provider (InDemand)

If a PPV draws about 8 million, the WWE only keeps a small fraction of the PPV buys. For the WWE to break even, each PPV must do 75,000 buys. Anything after is just profit for the three parties involved. The reason why the WWE makes a big deal about PPV's is because, 1) They can see if certian feuds are drawing enough people to care, 2) Tthe cost it takes to produce the show, and 3) PPV's is what makes the WWE money these days outside of merchandise sales.

Charisteas

Money In The Bank did 210,000 on Sky Sports 1.

So it beat the last WWE PPV that was on Sky Sports (not Box Office) was Over The Limit which got 159,000 on Sky Sports 2

But it didn't beat Elimination Chamber which got 267,000 on Sky Sports 1.


Source: barb.co.uk

D2D

WrestleMania XXVII did 1,059,000 buys

Extreme Rules 2011 got 209,000 buys, up from last years 182,000 buys

Over The Limit 2011 got 140,000 buys, down from last years 197,000 buys

WWE Capitol Punishment got 170 buys, up from last years Fatal 4 Way (the event it replaced) 143,000 buys

GTR63

Any early word on the MitB buyrate yet?

D2D

GTR63 wrote: »

Any early word on the MitB buyrate yet?

Meltzer reported that it was around double what Capitol Punishment got in the States so I'd expect it to come in around the 250-350 k mark but the final number won't be revealed until October'ish

the groutch

there are still far too many PPVs imo, 7 squeezed between summerslam & wrestlemania.
if it was up to me they should get rid of Hell In A Cell & Elimination Chamber, have TLC take Vengeance's spot and bring it forward a few weeks, and move Mania to mid March.

D2D

Listening to the Corporate call with Vince here, the Money in the Bank PPV's rate is up around 20% from last year

GTR63

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Listening to the Corporate call with Vince here, the Money in the Bank PPV's rate is up around 20% from last year

Last years did about 165,000 buys( http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/wwe-news/official-buyrate-numbers-for-wwe-money-in-the-bank-summerslam-night-of-champions.php ) so about 210,000 bit dissapointed if thats the final number.

jaykhunter

Here's the full breakdown of WWE's Conference Call from August 4th (thanks to John Pollock @lawradio). It's important to note that WM occured in Q2 this year, as opposed to Q1 last year, which skews Live Events, Venue Merch and PPV revenue.

Quick numbers :
Live Events up $6m
PPV up $24m
TV rights up $1m
Venue Merch up $2m
Licensing up $3m
WWE.com/WWEShop up $1m
Home video down $4m
WWE Magazines down $1m

**The WWE released their second quarter earnings report today yielding a profit of $14.3 million off revenues of $142.6 million as compared to profits of $6.3 million off of $106.8 million in the same quarter last year. This is misleading because due to timing WrestleMania 26 took place in Q1 of 2010 while WrestleMania 27 this year took place in Q2 and numbers are going not a fair comparison to Q2 of 2010 when looking at this year’s numbers. This year’s WrestleMania was responsible for $35.9 million in revenue and made a profit of $11.4 million after taxes. Here is the breakdown of the key areas:

*Live Events - $35.2 million (compared to $29.2 million in the same quarter last year but again propped up by WrestleMania, which the comparison number doesn’t have the benefit of)

*Pay-Per View - $34.4 million ($10.4 million in 2010) – there were four pay-per-views this year in Q2 with one being ‘Mania as compared to three non-Mania events in 2010 in Q2

*Television Rights Fees - $32.0 million (up from $30.8 million) which is a strong number considering the rights fees lost for ‘Superstars’ and ‘NXT’ being moved to WWE.com

*Venue Merchandise - $6.3 million ($4.3 million)

*Home Video - $7.5 million ($11.5 million) this is a terrible result for the home video market with WrestleMania fairing poorly on DVD

*Licensing - $12.0 million ($8.7 million) The combination of the Mattel deal and the strong performance of ‘WWE All-Stars’ made this division one of the strong pillars for the quarter

*Magazine Publishing - $1.6 million ($2.5 million) this is a tough industry to continue onwards with and wouldn’t be surprised if the magazine is moved to a digital property

*WWE.com - $3.4 million ($3.0 million)

*WWE Shop - $2.8 million ($2.4 million)

**Here is a look at the pay-per-view numbers for the prior quarter:

*WrestleMania 27 – 1,059,000 buys (up from 885,000 buys for ‘Mania 26) and I doubt you are going to hear Randy Orton complaining about The Rock being used on top anytime soon because here is your proof why he is in that spot and what he meant for the company for one night of business

*Extreme Rules – 209,000 buys – The Miz Vs John Cena for the WWE Title, Christian Vs Alberto Del Rio, Michael Cole & Jack Swagger Vs Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross (up from 182,000 buys in 2010)

*Over the Limit – 140,000 buys – John Cena Vs The Miz, Randy Orton Vs Christian, Jerry Lawler Vs Michael Cole (down from 197,000 buys in 2010)

*Capitol Punishment – 170,000 buys – John Cena Vs R-Truth, Randy Orton Vs Christian (up from 143,000 buys for the ‘Fatal Four Way’ show in 2010)



Quick PPV trends :
WM is up 74k
Extreme Rules is up 27k
OTL is down 57k
CP is up 27k.


**During the conference call Vince McMahon hinted a future 8pm EST live show that will be kicking off but didn’t provide a start date for the program. It has been rumored that the USA Network has been wanting to a launch a countdown style of show to lead into ‘Raw’, which is a tough timeslot as ‘Raw’ is always hurt on the three-hour shows by the first hour and it’s going to be tough to draw the same numbers as some of the USA’s lead ins do in that timeslot.



McMahon was asked about his recent meeting with UFC President Dana White and said it was more of a ‘social meeting’ than anything business related and was adamant about not partnering with the UFC for any business ventures and felt the UFC had ‘fallen on their butt’ recently in regards to trying to start their own network with NBC and Comcast.



McMahon also noted that The Rock is scheduled for a number of pay-per-view events in addition to WrestleMania 28 (Survivor Series is the only other event known at this time and it would be silly to use him prior that show but it makes sense to have him on the Royal Rumble event and perhaps the February show).


Both McMahon and George Barrios were noticeably down on the performance of their WWE Studios sector stating that they have put $120 million into their 15 movie projects and it has not yielded a return as of yet. McMahon said the Randy Orton project ‘That’s What I Am’ is a good movie but doesn’t target their audience and that ‘award winning movies don’t provide award winning sandwiches that you can eat’ as in they don’t make a lot of money. McMahon also said that they are expecting ‘SummerSlam’ to do ‘very well’.


**There was no number reported but Vince McMahon stated the recent ‘Money in the Bank’ event was up 20% 'as projected'.