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Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing coverage of WWE parent company TKO Group Holdings second quarter earnings call for 2024.
WWE's Seth Zaslow welcomed everyone to the call.
Ari Emanuel gave prepared remarks. TKO has capitalized on the demand for immersive events that sports fans want. They had record revenue for the quarter and have raised their guidance for the year.
UFC and WWE live events have out-performed. WWE's quarter kicked off with their most successful event ever Wrestlemania 40, followed by the international PPV.
They integrated UFC and WWE live events departments.
They have seen an increasing trend of site origination fees for both WWE and UFC, including the deal with Indiana to bring WWE PPVs there as well as the new deal with Minnesota.
They locked in deals for Call of Duty for both WWE and UFC.
Ari said the strength and popularity of their brands are undeniable. He talked up the WWE Netflix deal.
Andrew Schleimer said they continue to integrate the WWE and UFC companies and anticipate of further upsides. They planned for upwards of $150 million in savings. They currently expect at least $100 million in saving thus far.
They recapped the UFC fighter lawsuit settlement being rejected by the court.
They announced that due to a "technical matter" their auditor will no longer be able to work with them and will announce their new independent auditor today after the close to the stock market.
They recapped the earnings release.
They have been focused on greater ticket yield for WWE and have been succesful.
Sponsorship revenue was up 6% and they have signed many new sponsors.
In the third quarter, due to the timing of the calendar, there will be less UFC events. They expect WWE to have healthy growth for that quarter in part due to the savings they are creating.
They began to take questions. We'll recap WWE-related questions here.
Brandon from Lightshed asked where they were with the optimization of WWE live events, ticket prices, stadiums, etc. They said from a revenue synergy perspective, it's "knock on wood", clear skies ahead. They are seeing huge growth in site origination revenue. They are getting the rights fees in countries they deserve. They said not to underestimate Netflix-WWE deal as they will find a whole new audience and will be a real discovery platform for them that will help with sponsorships and site fees in the future.
Ben from Morgan Stanley asked about production costs for WWE being down while revenues were up. It was a big quarter anchored by Wrestlemania and they had an additional PPV this quarter vs. the previous quarter. On the production side, they have been successful to take expenses out of the production. They have created efficiences there. They've been able to reduce some production elements and making the show smaller without hurting the presentation of the show (think smaller staging, more seats).
They talked up that doing combination weekends with WWE and UFC. The production heads for UFC and WWE are working hand in hand to make production work together on all aspects. They feel WWE has been undermonetized and they are working to close the gap between it and UFC.
They were asked about how to best manage site fees in the long term. It's a balance. Ari wants to festivize their events even more than they are doing now. They want to be there for the hardcore sports fans but also be cultural events for the cities. If they can expand the number of days they come to town, they can see more money from the tourism boards, etc. They are certainly going to pit citiies against each other. They are going to Vegas for Wrestlemania but for a time, it was Vegas vs. Minneapolis and Minneapolis was looking to be the favorite.
They want to grow WWE more as an international entity, calling it a mostly domestic property.
They don't see any limitation to how they will engage and utilize sponsorships on WWE and UFC. They are never going to cheapen the brand but they are limited only by their own creativity.
They are working on more WWE short form content that will be announced in due time by Nick Khan.
They are in 170 countries now so Netflix is about expanding and finding new fans. They will work hard in hard on a marketing campaign to grab the attention of new audiences and new fans. They need to increase the passionate fan base and engagement. They want to bring more females to the UFC side.
On media rights, the market for premium content is extremely strong as seen by NBA and even The French Open rights fees. Both WWE and UFC are strong for linear, network TV as well as lessening churn for subscribers. They feel good about renewals for UFC and WWE premium event rights. It's about timing. Sports rights are strong, but it's timing. It could be hotter or less warm than it is now when they get to next year. They anticipate discussions in 2025 but no time tables have been set yet.
There was no discussion of PBR being part of TKO when it was created because Vince McMahon was adamant it was only UFC and WWE.
That was it for the questions!
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