By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE executives hosted a conference call pertaining to the 2022 WWE first quarter financial report that was released on May 5, 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 McMahon touted the record-breaking quarterly report and then turned things over to Nick Khan.
-Khan touted the success of WrestleMania from an attendance standpoint and via Peacock. He said it was the second most viewed live event in the history of the streaming service behind only the Super Bowl. Khan also noted the growth of Peacock and said that will help WWE grow. He said they hope to top the attendance numbers with next year’s WrestleMania in the Los Angeles area.
-Khan spoke of the success of the Elimination Chamber event that was held in Saudi Arabia. He said it was up 41 percent in viewership domestically and 42 percent internationally compared to the company’s previous Saudi event. He said they will return to Saudi Arabia later in the year. He also spoke about the Cardiff, Wales stadium show that will be held during Labor Day weekend.
-Khan said there will be more content buyers than ever as they enter their next round of television negotiations.
-Khan also spoke about Netflix’s issues and said that it’s only a matter of time before the stream adds live programming. Khan also addressed the other top streaming services and some of the big moves that they’ve made for live sports programming.
-Stephanie McMahon delivered her portion of the presentation, which focuses on sponsorship.
-Frank Riddick read through the financial presentation.
-The phone lines were opened to callers.
-The first caller asked about bundling the Raw and Smackdown rights with Peacock. Khan said the bundle can be a powerful tool. He mentioned the company’s “strong relationship” with Fox and said they would start by talking with both incumbents and go from there.
-The next caller asked about doing additional business in India and the possibility of doing a stadium show there. Khan said they were looking around the globe a potential stadium shows.
-Another caller asked if the success the company has had on Peacock has opened up additional licensing possibilities.
-A caller asked if there would be additional Performance Centers opening. Riddick spoke about the NIL program and recruiting. He said they are looking at expanding and improving the Performance Center, but they don’t have a set plan.
-The next caller asked if ratings have improved. Khan said ratings have been up coming out of WrestleMania and boasted that Smackdown recently topped an NBA Playoff game. With no additional callers, they closed out the conference call.
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