WWE News: WWE reports strong third quarter earnings

What’s the story?

WWE has released its earnings report for the fiscal quarter ended September 2017, with the results making for a generally positive outlook.

The company posted revenues of $186.4 million and profits of $21.8 million. Both figures beat Wall Street estimates, while an increase in the stock price saw the value of shares top $24 at the time of writing.

In terms of the WWE Network, profitability increased from $15.7 million to $24.3 million, and though the overall subscriber number has increased year-on-year, its actually declined slightly since the previous quarter.

In case you didn’t know…

WWE’s third quarter covers the three months of July, August and September, meaning the period encompass four pay-per-view events in the form of Great Balls of Fire, Battleground, SummerSlam and No Mercy, as well as the Mae Young Classic Network Specials.

Going in depth

The revenue figure represents a 14% increase in the Q3 number from 2016, with the rise being driven by the strong performances of the media, licensing and live event divisions.

North American revenues were particularly strong, accounting for more than 75% of total net revenues, and while revenue from the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region fell slightly, that’s likely due to the running of four fewer live events for the quarter.

Going back to those Network numbers, the paid subscriber count now stands at 1,507,000, which is 4% higher than at the same point last year. The increase in Network profitability, meanwhile, can be explained by a combination of higher revenues and lower costs, having produced fewer original shows.

Reactions

Stephanie McMahon was quick to chime in with her thoughts on Twitter, thanking the fans for their continued support whilst hyping up the quarterly results.

This morning @WWE announced it's ALL-TIME best quarter in company history. Thank you @WWEUniverse for your continued support! @WWEinvestor

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) October 26, 2017

Meanwhile, the head honcho himself, Vince McMahon, noted: “We are pleased with our continued success in growing and engaging a large, global audience across multiple platforms. The increased production of original content, our focus on localization and the further development of a diverse talent base contributed to that important achievement, reinforcing the significant scale and power of our brands.”

Author’s take

It’s interesting to note that the Network number only increased by 4% year-on-year, despite this year’s third quarter PPVs having stronger line-ups on paper. Such a marginal rise lends credence to the theory that in this day and age, it’s more difficult to increase subscriber numbers than it once was to pop a PPV buy-rate.

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