This year’s Royal Rumble in San Antonio was the highest grossing ever for the event.WWE
WWE’s media and content strategy puts the company on solid ground as it considers a possible sale and negotiates its next media rights deal, company officials say, pointing to increased viewership and record live event gates as two areas that will help WWE as it steers through this unprecedented level of change.
“If you look at the ratings and relevancy of our product, we like to think we’re in a good position,” said WWE CEO Nick Khan.
On the eve of the company’s biggest annual event, WrestleMania, set for April 1-2 at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium, WWE has seen a year-over-year viewership gain of 9% for its weekly “Raw” series on USA Network, 8% for “SmackDown” on Fox and 5% for “NXT” on USA. Its premium live events on the Peacock streaming service so far this year are averaging viewership gains of more than 50%, company officials said, citing internal numbers.
WWE Viewership Trends
Linear
Raw: 1.84 million (+9% vs. 2022)
SmackDown: 2.4 million (+8%)
NXT: 612K (+5%)
Peacock
Premium live events up an average of 53% year to date. All such WWE events shown on Peacock in 2022 averaged double-digit viewership gains vs. 2021.
* Through March 13
WWE also has seen success at the turnstile. As of March 6, “SmackDown” had set all-time gate records in nine markets while “Raw” had done the same in seven markets. Premium live events this year such as Elimination Chamber in Montreal and Royal Rumble in San Antonio were the highest grossing of all time for the company. In January, WrestleMania 39 had already set the all-time gate record for any WrestleMania, despite being three months from the event and having yet to announce a single match. Last year, WWE set gate records for “SmackDown” and “Raw” in more than 20 markets.
WWE has been able to stay on script despite the turmoil caused last year when Vince McMahon retired in July following a sexual misconduct investigation, only to return in January as executive chairman and announce that the company would explore strategic alternatives for its future, including a possible sale.
McMahon’s original exit saw an elevated role for Paul “Triple H” Levesque to chief content officer. Khan cited Levesque’s ability to create compelling storylines with in-ring talent as a reason why WWE has posted gaudy TV viewership and at-arena numbers.
“To me, the success we’ve seen in the ratings is a combination of factors,” Khan said. “Certainly Triple H, but that would also include the entire writing team, the producers, the superstars/in-ring performers and the system that Vince set up. Like any organization that thinks it’s great, the system moves no matter who comes and who goes.”
Raw has seen viewership gains this year and set gate records in seven markets for WWE.WWE
WWE’s media rights deals with Fox and USA Network (NBCUniversal) expire in 2024. Those five-year deals are worth $2.35 billion in total. The company also struck a deal to move its WWE Network streaming product to Peacock in 2021 in a five-year deal valued at $1 billion.
As for the next media rights talks, Khan said: “We look to get into the heat of the conversation first with our incumbents by the middle of the year or so. Depending on the timing and how strategic alternatives shake out, it will be either be middle of the year getting hot and heavy, or some time shortly thereafter.”
He said WWE deliberately timed its deals with Fox and NBCUniversal so that the company wouldn’t be in the market with its next agreement at the same time as the NFL. In 2021, the NFL announced new deals with Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN and Amazon worth more than $110 billion.
Still, WWE finds itself in the market at the same time major sports properties, including the NBA and NASCAR, are seeking new deals of their own. Regardless, Khan is confident of what WWE will be able to accomplish: “We believe there’s plenty of money out there for us.”
Khan said the move of WWE Network to Peacock made sense given the growing streaming wars taking place with the emergence of multiple new platforms. “WWE Network didn’t seem as viable as it did in 2014 when it was launched,” he said.
The move has been a boon for the WWE premium live events shown on the streaming service, such as Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. And Peacock gets a deep menu of additional WWE content to lure subscribers, such as classic events and original series.
Khan said WWE has seen substantial crossover viewership from other Peacock programming, pointing out Premier League soccer, Spanish-language World Cup matches and the hit series “Yellowstone” as providing the most crossover viewership.
“Our audience turns out for our events, but there’s also stickiness in terms of our audience sampling other Peacock products,” Khan said. “Once our folks go to Peacock, they tend to stay there and become invested in the platform, which we certainly think is great for Peacock and great for us.”
As for its shows on Fox and USA Network, Khan said WWE uses marquee NBA regular-season matchups on ESPN/ABC and TNT, and early-round NBA playoff games, as a measuring stick for how its own programming is performing.
The combination of a potential sale, and a new media rights deal, creates a balancing act for WWE, considering that some of the potential bidders mentioned so far are media companies drawn to the extensive calendar of live entertainment. Potential bidders circulated in media reports so far include the likes of Endeavor, Comcast, Disney, Netflix and Amazon.
“That’s probably the trickiest of all the parts, but one thing that all potential buyers know is that the rights that Fox and NBCU negotiated for separately will obviously have to be adhered to and respected with all sorts of good faith attached to that,” Khan said.
WWE has retained The Raine Group as financial adviser, Kirkland & Ellis as legal adviser, and August for strategic communications.
