Figure Four Online reported over the weekend that the WWE has officially released its first Wrestlemania 29 buy rate. The worldwide buy rate for this year’s annual event was 1,048,000 which is lower than Wrestlemania 28.
The Wrestlemania 28 PPV buy rate was lowered a couple times from an initial 1.3M buys down to somewhere between 1.1 and 1.2M PPV buys. The WWE appeared cautious when it mentioned PPV buys at its First Quarter earnings call which led one to speculate whether the buy rate did not meet expectations.
Payout Perspective:
This year’s PPV buy rate is likely an accurate buy rate and won’t be calibrated up and down too much as what occurred last year. This year the WWE bumped up its PPV $5 to $69.99 (for HD), $64.99 (non-HD). Could the price point be the reason for the less than expected buy rates. Or, was it the card featuring a rehash of last year’s main event, or maybe a combination? The WWE still had a stellar live attendance/gate with 80K plus attending for a gate over $11M. But, it believed that with the event being in the New York area (technically New Jersey), the company would do a better number than last year.
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