By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE executives hosted a conference call pertaining to the WWE fourth quarter and 2021 full year financial report that was released on February 3, 2022 at Corporate.WWE.com. The following are the highlights of the call. Refresh the page for the latest updates.
-The call was hosted by Vince McMahon, WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan, WWE Chief Financial Officer Frank Riddick, and Stephanie McMahon. New WWE Senior VP of Investor Relations Seth Zaslow read through the legalities and then turned things over to Vince for his opening statement.
-Vince spoke briefly about their record numbers and quickly turned things over to Khan.
-Khan spoke spoke of various events performing better in terms of viewership on Peacock than the same events did in 2019 on WWE Network. SummerSlam was up 30 percent, Extreme Rules was up 20 percent, an international (Saudi Arabia) show was up 75 percent, and Survivor Series was up nearly 25 percent. He said over 3.5 million paid Peacock subscribers have watched WWE programming.
-Khan touted a dozen forthcoming scripted and unscripted projects, and said announcements would be made soon. He also spoke of WWE themed lottery games coming to multiple states.
-Khan said Royal Rumble viewership was up nearly 45 percent in viewership compared to the 2020 event. He credited the creative team for putting on a great event, then spoke of Bad Bunny and Johnny Knoxville taking part in the show. He made it clear that they weren’t just crossing off a bucket list team, and emphasized that both are on the verge of major career moments (Bunny’s tour, Knoxville’s Jackass Forever movie).
-Khan spoke of WWE serving as executive producers of “Rowdy’s Places” featuring Ronda Rousey, which just premiered on ESPN Plus.
-Khan discussed various business consolidations, as well as sports rights on various platforms. He said they couldn’t be more optimistic to drive growth this year and beyond.
-Stephanie McMahon delivered her comments regarding sponsorships, NIL deals, WWE 2K22 video game, and WWE’s reach to 18-34 year-olds on various social media platforms.
-Riddick walked listeners through the financial presentation.
-A caller asked about their plans for farming out the WWE Network rights internationally. Khan said they were taking it country by country and implied that more details are coming.
-Another caller asked about WWE in the metaverse. Stephanie said they were learning as much as they could and are meeting with various partners.
-A caller asked about major international shows. While it was noted that they have two (Saudi Arabia), Khan asked why they should be limited to just two.
-A caller asked for more details regarding the NIL deals. Stephanie and Khan both explained the basics.
-Khan spoke about how scripted content isn’t performing as well as it once did on network television. He tied it in with the streaming wars, and noted that broadcast and cable television has been good to them. He said he feels they are positioned well on all three platforms.
-A caller asked about the Raw and Smackdown next day replay rights. Khan said they feel as good about those rights as they did going into their last round of television negotiations.
-The caller asked if WWE would consider a streaming service for their next Raw and Smackdown deal. Khan spoke favorably about their relationships with their current partners. He also pointed to the major sports having their playoffs and championships on television, and indicated that they will continue to have a presence on both television and via streaming. They wrapped up the call shortly thereafter.
It’s time for Nick and Vince to do some big budget cuts and get rid of more talent.
So just another round of massive ego and little c..k stroking.