Read on for a rundown of WWE's Q1 2013 financial results and my thoughts on them.
Here's a link to the basic rundown. Some things to note:
They made more money in North America than last year. The Rock's return surely helped here, as well as their new TV shows. Now they have no Rock, so they better hope that Main Event and SMS stay on the air.
Every other market was down, after fewer live events were held outside of North America. That's kind of a shame. Realistically they can only do so much outside of North America without really burning out the talents with all that travel.
Attendance was up in North America. Good. I hope that continues.
Not only was attendance down internationally, but they charged less for tickets. They pin this on doing shows in "emerging markets" like Turkey and Qatar. Hopefully the people who did attend spread the word and things grow there.
Oh yeah, The Rock definitely helped PPV buys. Sadly, they might not be able to pull that magic trick again. At any rate, any big name they bring in temporarily (Brock, Austin, whomever) is just a short-term fix. They're lucky that some people are willing to pay extra for the HD feed.
Main Event and SMS are doing well now, but how many shows has WWE trotted out over the years that eventually disappeared (from U.S. TV)? Velocity, Heat, ECW, NXT, Superstars, etc..
I'm shocked that the WWE Magazine is still popular, with all this "print media are dying" talk. I've heard that it's usually a pretty good read, though.
They deserve a lot of credit for their Digital Media performance.
I wouldn't read too much into the WWE Films division's performance since they are under a different model now. I think it might end up being a plus for them down the line. That said, it's seemingly clear that the novelty of having a WWE star in a movie isn't as appealing as they think it is.
More of this "potential Network" talk. I'd be really surprised if they sunk this much money into it, then didn't launch it.
Here's a rundown of WWE's Conference Call.
Making a TV network takes a lot of work, huh? They clearly hoped to have it up and running by now.
It'll be interesting to see how they use social media going forward.
It would have been nice to have profits from "The Call" to offset "Dead Man Down". I wonder how it would have done without Halle Berry.
Glad that they're trying to fix what went wrong with the international tours.
Lots of stuff going into the Network. That's going to be pivotal for them in future years if it gets off the ground.
I hope that celebrity involvement paid off, because a lot of dyed-in-the-wool WWE fans aren't crazy about all those cameos.
Interesting stuff about their non-wrestling shows ("Total Divas", "Legends House").
The Associated Press picked up on WWE's financial situation.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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