Welcome to another edition of The Wrestling Post. This time we take a look at the WWE earnings call for its second quarter.
The WWE did not meet Wall Street’s forecasts but delivered a profit. For the quarter ending June 30, 2013, total revenues for the WWE increased $10.7 million up 8% from this time last year. The increased production and licensing of television content along with the ticket revenue from Wrestlemania 29 contributed to this year’s quarter increase. Moreover, the third hour of Monday Night Raw, Main Event and Saturday Morning Slam contributed to the revenues this quarter.
Conversely, operating income declined in the quarter as a result of “talent expenses” (i.e., paying for The Rock and Brock Lesnar). In addition, the WWE’s new strategic initiatives contributed to the cut in the profits as the big ticket item this quarter was the opening of a state of the art training facility in Orlando, Florida. The 26,000 square-foot training center cost the WWE $3.5 million.
PPV business was down which the WWE attributed to one less PPV during Q2. It should be noted that estimates for Wrestlemania 29 have been trending lower than expected. In fact, it was recalibrated to 1,039,000 PPV buys which is lower than the 1.2 million PPV buys from Wrestlemania 28. According to the presentation, the PPV profits were down $9.7 million from last year. So, while the attendance and gate were records, the PPV business did not live up to its expectations.
WWE Studios actually accounted for $1.5 million to its overall revenue. The much maligned division made $2.1 million in revenue as opposed to $0.6 million in 2012.
Also, still no word on when the WWE Network may launch.
Payout Perspective:
This quarter’s earnings showed the company’s strength is its television shows. It also showed that it is willing to spend money to make money. The WWE Network is still out there and the company continues to spend money toward its launch someday. The building of a state of the art training facility reflects a big investment in training a next generation of sports entertainers. The question is whether these investments will see a return and when.
The Wrestlemania PPV buys are disappointing considering the amount of money it spent on talent and production. We should note that this was the first time the WWE raised its PPV price point to $70 for HD.
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