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Welcome to PWInsider.com's ongoing coverage of WWE's fourth quarter and complete 2022 earnings call!
Seth Zalslov welcomed us to the call. On the call are WWE CEO Nick Khan, CCO Paul Levesque and CFO Frank Riddick. No Vince McMahon!
Nick said 2022 was another record setting year for WWE. In 2021, they surpassed $1 billion in revenue. In 2022, they grew that to $1.2 billion. They believe they are well positioned for the future.
Nick wanted to address a few topics:
There have been changes in the company's management structure over the last year. Vince McMahon left and returned and they are looking at Alternative Strategies. Khan wanted to give an update on that. It is early in the review but they expect to consider a broad range of options. There is no guarantee they will make a move and they will make no further statements until "appropriate."
Khan noted that Stephanie McMahon has left and praised her work. He said they would not be where they are today without Stephanie's work and her returning when she did.
Khan began reviewing the financials. They set record gates for 20 Raw and Smackdown cities over the last year. Raw did its best ratings in three years for the 30th anniversary show. Watch times for Raw and Smackdown were at all-time highs in Quarter four. Raw is seeing big gains for younger viewers while 18-34 aged TV viewing is down. WWE is bucking the trends in traditional viewing.
Last week's Royal Rumble saw an over 52% viewership growth from the year before. Viewership for Extreme Rules was up 26%. Survivor Series was up 46%. The events are driving Peacock subs.
Clash at the Castle set viewership, live gate and merchandise records for WWE international events. 75% of those attending were from outside Wales. $12 million was spent in restaurants and bars. Hotels near the stadium were 100% sold out.
They will return to London for MITB, their first premium event in 20 years.
They will go to Montreal for Elimination Chamber. There will be more than 12,000 in attendance for the sold out show, their first in Montreal for a PPV in 14 years. They are doing the premium experiences with On Location for Montreal, their first international PPV offering. They are seeing real growth in the VIP experiences in the States as well.
Extreme Rules had a 62% increase in venue merchandise in house for that event. They had a 76% increase in Survivor Series merchandise in venue. The Rumble last week set the greatest record for merchandise in house for any non-Wrestlemania event in WWE history.
Khan praised WWEShop and their trading card partnerships. He also praised their work on sponsorships and said the average client spend from last year is up 98%. They are integrating more, such as the Pitch Black Match and The Applebees Rumble Countdown Clock, which were each seven figure deals.
Khan said they are pleased with the performance of the business and their "amazing colleagues."
Paul Levesque stated that they are seeing record numbers thanks to their amazing talent and writing teams. He praised Rhea Ripley's Rumble win, the return of Pat McAfee, the return of Logan Paul and Cody Rhodes' return to the ring. ESPN said the end of the show was among the most dramatic in WWE history. Levesque said they are set for lots of compelling moments in the days ahead.
Levesque praised their work in the demo for Raw 30 and the different generations of stars that appeared on the show.
WWE surpassed 16 billion views on social media in 2022. They have made a deal to do localized social media accounts for talents in international markets. He praised the Bump for hitting 200 episodes.
The clip of Logan Paul holding his cell phone while leaping on Roman Reigns hit over 40 million views across his and WWE's platforms.
They continue to invest in a "robust" recruitment for talent including the NIL program. He touted the WWE Campus Rush tour from last year and said there will be a Spring schedule set to be revealed.
They have a new campaign in the Search for Africa's Next WWE Superstar, which will culminate with a multi-day tryout in Lagos, Nigeria later this year and there will be an announcement on how fans will see it.
Production is underway on Montez Ford & Bianca Belair's Hulu reality series.
He closed by saying "having Vince around is great." They stand at the shoulders of giants and having Vince back is a tremendous asset to the company.
Frank Riddick recapped their financial numbers.
Their fourth quarter features $2.3 million in costs due to the Vince McMahon investigation. There may be additional costs announced Recently announced settlements will be paid by McMahon personally.
Their current USA Network NXT media rights agreement expires in September.
Their current media rights in the MENA region expires in March.
They then opened it up for questions!
Brandon Ross asked about the potential of whether Vince McMahon wants to remain on or not after a transaction (sale). Nick said he will do whatever is best for shareholder value and it's not about what role Vince will have, but about maximizing shareholder value, including his own. They want a partner in the media business, not just someone with deep pockets. They want someone who knows what to do with the media rights domestically and internationally. They are looking at who can accelerate their business and whats the best value for their shareholders.
They were asked about the UK sports rights.
They were asked about production costs rising. Frank Riddick said it was investment-related, expanding the talent pool and making the show more vibrant. These are things that wlll pay off with the new rights renewals.
They were asked about why there's been additional interest in major events. Khan said it started with Stephanie McMahon changing the mentality from "maybe" to "yes" so when they were pitched about doing a sponsorship match with Pepsi, the answer was yes, followed by a conversation with HHH that started with, "We can do this, right?"
They are willing to monetize the ring, ring posts, etc. It is something they are exploring.
Khan was asked about why they are looking at selling before new TV deals. They didn't want to make new deals and keep potential buyers off the table for X years. They wanted to take potential sales offers while respecting current partners.
On why Raw and Smackdown ratings have diverged, Khan pointed out Disney doing all of simulcasts of NFL across different platforms and that has something to do with it. Paul and hit team have worked hard on Raw as they have Smackdown, because they are going against big-time competition in the NFL. They went out and signed more talent and they believe that will pay off.
On NXT, they are seeing ratings growth. NBCU is thrilled with it. As much as it has its own brand, it's still their farm team. It doesn't have the same expectation internally as they have for Raw and Smackdown but there's growth.
Khan said any suitor or potential buyer would respect the rights NBC and FOX negotiated with the company and they would make sure the rights are respected. They want to have good conversations with each of those partners. New talks with them will start after Wrestlemania in LA, where they are located.
They were asked about WWE in the India market and what the trends are. Khan said they are waiting for the Sony-Z merger to be approved, which they hope will be in April. COVID stunted their growth in a number of places, but India specifically. When the merger is done, look for a big live event there. That's the show we reported on that was postponed by the TV partners.
They are looking at doing more monetization of their talent IP.
They are looking at investing in a new Performance Center and will be investing in the launch of NXT Europe.
They were asked about whether NXT is important to have on the same home as Raw or Smackdown so they can have multiple nights. Khan said they are happy with their NBCU partnership. If they do a premium show on Saturday, you get a lot of promotion on Saturday and NFL on Sunday, you get a lot of promotion for Raw and then Smackdown. Last year, they were preempted on USA for Raw and moved to SyFy. Raw carried 90% of the audience from one to the other, so they are happy with all of their programming on that platform.
They were asked about the importance of traditional TV these days. It's still important but not as important as it once was. Peacock's numbers have a lot that come from mobile devices. They have a show on broadcast, one on basic cable and premium shows on Peacock. Having all three have worked.
That's it from the call!
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