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Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing coverage of WWE's 2020 fourth quarter and complete 2020 earnings call.
Presiding over the call will be Chairman & CEO Vincent K. McMahon, President & Chief Revenue Officer Nick Kahn, Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon and Chief Financial Officer, Kristina Salen.
Michael Weiss welcomed everyone and said good morning. Vince reminded him it was the evening. Everyone laughed.
Vince said they generated some strong results in a challenging environment and haven't missed a week in creating content. He said they have showed the flexibility of their product to the audience across the different venues. He put over the Thunderdome as a great name.
He said that he wanted to point out the Peacock deal and said he doesn't believe any really big deals have been announced anywhere since COVID-19 and said it was a great deal and a great value for the fans. For the same $9.99 they get the same WWE Network content and more great entertainment.
He said they expect a return gradually to ticketed events but no one can say what the entire live event world will be and how many fans will be available to attend. He put over the company as the most versatile, flexible entertainment company today and said they can turn around a live event and run within six weeks.
Nick Kahn touted the Peacock deal and said there would be no upcharge for WWE PPV events. He noted that back in October, they noted that NBC and Disney had made streaming the priority. They had entered discussions with potential partners in the months before that and finally landed upon NBC as the right partner. He praised WWE and Vince McMahon's move from closed circuit to PPV to OTT to partnering with a major streaming service.
Kahn discussed their recent Superstar Spectacle event for Sony in India. They had record engagement and the show was viewed by over 20 million on Sony platforms in India, 5 times what Raw and Smackdown does in India and they are waiting for the +7 numbers for the market. They will be doing more.
Kahn said the Bad Bunny partnership was specifically to appeal to the Latin market and pointed out the success of the mainstream media reporting and online numbers for the crossover.
They are licensing scripted and unscripted content. They have sold a multi-episode series for John Cena to narrate. They have closed a deal to integrate WWE content into NBC's Young Rock. He noted number a deal has been closed for WWE replica belts using the branding of top sports teams.
Stephanie said that her father taught her to be ahead of the curve. They were able to be ahead of the curve with Wrestlemania, YouTube and social media. She said they are ahead of the curve again by licensing content to Peacock. She said the landscape has changed and that change was pushed faster by quarantine and COVID-19. Everyone has a need for branded content. They need to pivot and create content, production and storytelling to partner with NBCU. She put over their relationship over the last 30 years and that this brings WWE more eyeballs via their 33 million subscribers and integration between WWE and NBCU properties. They believe in the power of the brand. The audience held steady through all the changes this year with Raw viewership "essentially unchanged" and Smackdown is up 8%. She put over their online viewing numbers.
She plugged Sasha Banks' crossover appearance on The Mandalorian, which is sort of funny since WWE did not get her that gig. She then put over Bad Bunny. Dave and I talked a lot about why that was a great move on yesterday's audio.
They began running down the official numbers.
They will return to working on the new WWE HQ as well as spending money on technological infrastructure in mid-2021 and will report back as they finish crunching those numbers.
They are not reinstating quarterly guidance at this time due to COVID-19.
They were asked about Peacock. They will have expenditures in the first quarter of 2021 due to migration. They will have some savings in technology but that will be offset by investments into technology that are "overdue." They declined to comment about specific revenue and how they might offer network ad buys into programming. They don't expect any loss of revenue beyond subscribers to Network who move to Peacock.
They were asked about how they intended to grow together with content to help Raw. They are confident they can grow the Peacock subscriber base but they could always bring PPV content to the "linear" programming but they'd have to discuss and come up with an agreement.
They were asked why they still will operate the Network themselves internationally vs. licensing it as they have in Canada and the U.S. Kahn made it clear they are open to doing the same in other markets and it's something they are looking into.
They were asked about sponsorship potential for WWE in the future. Stephanie took over that side of the business six months ago and they have seen a big uptick in that and they are confident in their opportunities. They are just getting started in scripted and unscripted programming. They are just locking in the first deal with replica belts with one sports league.
They were asked about reversing backwards ratings trends and bringing audiences back to the shows. Kahn said they don't believe they have lost eyeballs. They have shifted from platform to platform. Based on the revenues and the numbers, they believe the eyeballs were there. They believe that a great continued in-ring product will see the eyeballs grow and that as COVID and the Presidental race pass, they will see the linear shows grow.
They were asked if they are losing anything as part of the new changes and how the mechanics will change for the new deal specifically with PPVs. Kahn said that if you look at the big media conglomerates, there isn't any that is as unique as NBCU right now. Just a few weeks ago, they announced the next three Wrestlemania locations and just that creative output and it went viral during a football game. They felt great about how that worked and at the time the Peacock deal was already done. They are finalizing their 2021 PPV calendar and they can piggy-back promotion onto big NBC events.
There will be no upcharge for special WWE events on Peacock - everything is $4.99 across the board, $9.99 with no ads. They are still working through the accounting to make sure it is properly reviewed. 2021 will see them have to oversee the network subscribers and IP that shifts over and 2022 they will have a more standard accounting.
Kahn also put over FOX saying their FS1 Rumble special brought in over one million viewers.
They were asked how NBCU will factor the success of the WWE Network on Peacock. Kahn said it comes down to ratings, relevancy and revenue.
They were asked how NBCSN shutting down will impact Raw and NXT. Kahn said they believe it will have no impact on them. They believe it is just a case of the lesser strong platforms shutting down and moving to the better platforms but it will have no impact on them. They avoided the part of the question about NXT moving to Peacock and off USA.
They ask about how the live streaming services could change plans on how they license Raw and Smackdown in the future. Kahn said they have the finger on the pulse of what buyers are looking for down the road and they are open for business as long as FOX and NBCU are taken care of as they are their primary partners.
They were asked about the impact on the Saudi Arabia shows not taking place. We can see in the most recent numbers the effect having or not having them be. In a hyper-theoretical world, it's impossible to say what the restrictions and reality will be domestically, much less internationally. There are too many factors that go in to make it anything but a theoretical discussion.
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