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Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing earnings call coverage for WWE's third quarter of 2022.
We were welcomed to the call by Seth Zaslow. Leading the call are Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque and Frank Riddick.
Stephanie said it was another record-setting quarter for the company. They had increases of 19% and 17% year over year. She said the renewed energy around creative has boosted them on all platforms. Raw is up 5%. Smackdown is up 1%. Each of those are bucking the downward viewing trends on both basic cable and broadcast TV. She praised the White Rabbit multimedia campaign for spiking Smackdown's 9/23 episode garnering the best audience since 2020.
Viewership of the PPVs are up 21% on Peacock.
Clash at the Castle was the most viewed international WWE PPV event for Peacock and the WWE Network. She praised the success of that show.
The partnership with Fanatic will see them have 25% more product for the holiday season vs. last year.
She talked about their relationships with Panini and Major League Baseball. They sold out their NY Yankees-inspired replica belts.
They remain "bullish" on advertising and sponsorships.
She said they are just getting started on future plans including building "moats" around their characters' IP.
Nick Khan said Extreme Rules was the highest grossing event of that show of all time, praising the White Rabbit campaign.
Khan said the 2023 Royal Rumble ticket sales have already surpassed the second higmhest Rumble of all time, 2022 in St. Louis. This Jan will be the highest grossing Rumble of all time.
Khan talked about the return to Montreal for Elimination Chamber and expects there to be high demand for the first Montreal PPV in 14 years.
They have moved 100,000 tickets for Wrestlemania 39 already with no talents or matches announced.
Live events have proven to be a boon to the markets they visit. Dallas announced $200 million was brought to that market for Wrestlemania earlier this year.
They are in conversations with other local governments and tourism boards for future events along the lines of Clash at the Castle in Cardiff.
Khan talked some of the international TV and WWE Network rights deals, including Australia, The Caribbean and The Philippines. '
He pointed out today's deal for Sub-Saharan Africa.They are going to do localized programming there including a talent search locally, which will start next week in Nigeria.
Khan said they are going to do a ten episode Netflix Spanish-language comedy about an inspiring female wrestler that will debut soon.
WWE Studios will feature a new series on Hulu starring Bianca Belair and Montez Ford for next year.
They have extended their Hulu deal for Raw.
They will return with more A&E programming in 2023.
They are ready for the next round of TV rights fees and are confident where they stand going into those.
They continue to watch Amazon's move towards more live sports-programming including the Amazon NFL partnership. They are seeing sports shifting into streaming similar to what made sports so important for cable and the audience will continue to grow over time.
Khan said they are confident going into 2023.
Paul Levesque said they are seeing strong viewership across all the programming. The creative is working and the viewership is growing. He said WWE is outpacing the #2 sports league on video views online by twice. Their IG page had the highest views in the history of the page this summer. They are seeing more engagement and longer watch times and more ad revenue. WWE remains the #8 viewed channel on YouTube. They are the #1 most followed sports league on TikTok, ahead of everyone else by millions.
Levesque praised the White Rabbit project that led to the return of Bray Wyatt. Bray's shirt was the #1 selling t-shirt for all of Fanatics on the night he returned on TV. As we had reported previously, Levesque said we should look for them to do similar content in the future to make the storylines 24/7.
Levesque talked up the WWE Campus Rush and the Next in Line program.
Levesque said the increased excitement in creative and energy brings them the opportunity to work with more celebrities. He pushed Logan Paul vs. Roman Reigns this Saturday and teased Jake Paul could be there [PWInsiderElite.com subscribers already know the answer to that one!] to offset the Bloodline.
Frank Riddick reviewed the company's financials.
The Vince McMahon investigation is done.
They went into the Q&A portion.
They are working to strike a balance between the creativity that has brought up the ratings and get stronger broadcast rights. They see opportunities to balance out some of the costs of the company with the
Paul Levesque was asked his core tenents for his creative outlook. Levesque said looking at a year-long cycle of content creation over the year and picking places you want to go to and figure out how to get there. They are looking ahead farther than they ever have before. They are already starting to collaborate into what they want for Wrestlemania 40 as they get past Mania 39. it's a large cycle and the business is unique with injuries and talents out. He pointed out the recent success has been without Cody, Randy Orton, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. You'll see stars return and stars developed before they come up to Raw and Smackdown so they mean more. He wants to keep things fresh. Some things from outside the box will work and some won't. He praises the white rabbit as an example. He's not afraid of the losses because they teach him why something doesn't work and they can learn from it. They want to have a plan of where they want to go.
Nick Khan was asked about the Raw and Smackdown rights renewals next year and why he's so positive about them right now. Khan said they look at ratings, revenue and relevancy and the company is firing on all cylinders for all of those.
They are taking a deep dive into some of the placements of PPVS. They have an offer now for one they are happy with and they are working with other countries and cities for future events that would partner with those entities.
Levesque was asked about NXT Europes expansion and a timeline beyond there. He said when they started NXT UK was to replicate in the United States and they started but COVID hit and they had to re-think it. It's tough to rebrand and reboot it while you are running it, so they shut it down. As Europe grows, you'll see if replicating a little more of what NXT is in the U.S., including recruiting world class athletes and young talents. They will partner with people over there and will train and develop them into an overall feeder system for Raw and Smackdown. The localized brand there is attractive to a lot of their partners. Europe then becomes an interesting hub for other countries, such as India. It's hard to recruit there and bring them to the U.S., so they can get them to Europe much quicker and faster to start their process. Once they get Europe going, you can look for them to expand beyond that into other markets as well.
Levesque was asked what sort of timeline he expects for talents in the NIL deal to get into the PC and move to NXT, then the main roster. Levesque said that recruiting some collegiate athletes, the difference is that level of high end athletes are used to being trained and coached at a high level, so that speeds up their window of time. There's a cutoff period of 4-6 months for some. There's some talents on TV right now that in the system just six months. They are picking it up really fast. Talents are becoming more and more interested by the day and the future is bright.
They were asked about Canadian rights fees expiring in 2024. Nick Khan said the market there is strong, especially given all the U.S. companies that have gone international. They love their relationship with Rogers right now and they are bullish there.
They were asked about cord-cutting and whether packaging linear and streaming together is the right way to continue or if they should get more creative. Khan said they believe the nights of the week matter for the return of their investment. They are happy with all three of their opportunities. There will be fewer opportunities as there will be fewer basic cable networks but streaming will provide those opportunities. They remain bullish on linear for live programming.
They were asked about the Hulu rights renewal for Raw. Riddick said The Hulu negotiation was complicated by their desire of what WWE wants to do with their second to air rights. The shorter deal was better for them and said it doesn't say anything about their rights negotiation for 2023.
They were asked how they rank the importance of markets outside of the United States given the recent deals. Khan said the live events and the rights deals are one in the same now. When you see the passionate fan base live, it's an easier sell to partners.
That concluded the call!
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