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Before the call starts, I have to say that today's release was fantastic. Revenue numbers were up and WWE Network subscriptions grew significantly. But profits missed so of course, the stock is down in early trading.
Vince started the call by saying that he was pleased with their strategy and how it increased the company's overall numbers. And he should be. As I said above, the numbers were strong.
He talked about the Brand Extension and how they just started it. He said that they got their highest rating for Smackdown on cable last week. He said that the Extension is working well so far. He also talked about how video views online have almost doubled. He mentioned the new TV deal in China and how the show will be in Mandarin. He thinks that there is a lot of growth in that market, and of course there is.
He turned the call over to George Barrios and Mike is recapping that. In the interim, I want to take a second to offer a view that is alternative to Mike's about Smackdown on Tuesday.
Yes, Raw was the better show, no doubt. But they also have more talent and had the perfect storm of creating the new Title, which led to them putting two great Fatal Four Ways on the show, and then the main event. Plus, they pulled the trigger on Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte AND let them do what they could do and tear the house down.
Contrast that with Smackdown. The theme of the draft was to have talents taken that were not given a chance before. Look at the roster and there are very few "made" names. Because of that, WWE has to make them. You don't put in a kitchen in a home before you build the foundation. The same principle holds here. Before you can have someone like Apollo Crews compete at the top of the card, they have to build him up. Look at how he has been used. Or Dolph Ziggler. Or Baron Corbin. Or Zack Ryder. Or....you get the idea.
So there was no way that Smackdown could come out of the gate as strong as Raw did because they just didn't have the cards in place to do it. Instead, they focused on their biggest asset, the WWE Title. And, they made the show all about who would be the next one to challenge for it. I liked that American Alpha was held off the show. They will be the focal point of week two. What I would like to see is them get their introduction and while they are being interviewed, someone likes the Ascension comes out and gets in their face and we get a minute or three of Alpha just destroying them, showing what they can do. Protect them and build them up in a big way. Build the asset.
The theme of second chances, by its very nature, will take time to implement. I think we need to be patient and see what they build. Therefore, I was very happy with Tuesday's Smackdown.
After George did his thing, they turned it over to questions.
OK, we can skip the first guy. He asked what their plan was to keep the Olympics from killing viewership. OY.
They were asked about the rationale for doing the Brand Extension? Was it for ratings with an eye towards the new TV deal in 2019?
Vince said that they have a plethora of talent due to HHH's work with NXT. They couldn't exploit all of the talent so they created a split. They did it in the past and had to stop when they ran out of talent, but with the Performance Center, that won't happen again. It sure shouldn't.
They were asked about the retention of pre-WrestleMania subs. George said there will be no additional data, but they gave they guidance at 1.5 and they held up well. No more data than that.
What should we expect in International Growth? They don't give that. But other than China, they have no new launches coming.
They were asked about the deal in China. Is it exclusive? It is their first exclusive digital deals there. And live content has a premium. He also said that they have 150,000 hours of content and they will continue to add to the Network.
What are the key metrics to measure the Brand Extension? It is the metrics that they talk about consistently. Ratings. Total consumption. Time spent watching. The usual metrics.
Will they continue to do the gift cards? Payment options are important. Gift cards are used to pay so they like that and will add more ways to pay over time.
Come on, someone ask about Brock!
Next one asked about the UFC sale. George thinks it's great that they sold for as much as it did. They are always open to listening to offers.
That was it. No one asked about Brock Lesnar's status. That is pretty week on the financial people's parts.
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