Notes from WWE’s 2022 Fiscal 1st Quarter Report

WWE held an investor’s meeting on Thursday discussing the results from their fiscal 2022 first quarter report.

In regards to revenues, WWE generated $333.4 million in net revenues for the fiscal quarter, up 27% compared last year’s fiscal first quarter. Operating income for the fiscal quarter was $92.4 million, up 42% compared to last year’s fiscal first quarter. It was announced that both set the record for highest ever for a fiscal first quarter in company history.

WWE generated a net income of $66.1 million for the fiscal quarter, which was up compared to last year’s fiscal first quarter of $43.8 million.

In regards to other financial areas, WWE’s Adjusted OIBDA for the fiscal quarter was $111.7 million, up 33% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. WWE’s events revenue for the fiscal quarter was $23.1 million, up compared to last year’s fiscal first quarter of $0.5 million. WWE’s consumer revenue for the fiscal quarter was $32.2 million, up compared to last year’s fiscal quarter of $21 million.

In regards to WrestleMania 38, it was announced that the two-night event generated a total attendance of 156,352, which was stated to be the highest ever grossing and attended WrestleMania event in WrestleMania history. It was also announced that WrestleMania 38 was the most watched ever WWE event in WWE history and was the second most watched event ever on Peacock in Peacock history, only behind NFL’s Super Bowl LVI game.

In regards to television ratings for the fiscal quarter, WWE RAW was stated to have averaged 1,721,000 viewers per show during the quarter, which was down 8% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. WWE NXT 2.0 was stated to have averaged 617,000 viewers per show during the quarter. USA Network’s average viewership for the quarter was stated to be 729,000, which was up 3% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. WWE Friday Night SmackDown was stated to have averaged 2,199,000 viewers per show during the quarter, which was around even compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. FOX’s average viewership for the quarter was stated to be 2,832,000, which was around even compared to last year’s fiscal quarter.

Other notable highlights from WWE’s investor’s meeting:

• WWE President Nick Khan stated that this year’s WrestleMania 38 event saw a 54% increase in global viewership and 61% increase in domestic viewership compared to last year’s WrestleMania 37 event. Khan stated “In 2021, we saw a 15% increase in viewership from 2020, which was the last WrestleMania to air in the US on WWE Network. This momentum continued into 2022, where this past month, we saw 61% increase from 2021. We also doubled WWE viewership in total on Peacock over the past WrestleMania weekend compared to the year prior. We did not hit a ceiling our first year on Peacock. During WrestleMania weekend, nearly one-third of all Peacock accounts viewed WWE content. WrestleMania 38 was the second most-watched live event in the history of Peacock behind only this year’s Super Bowl.”
• Khan also stated that the company is currently scheduled to produce 35 WWE themed Biography episodes, 24 new episodes of Most Wanted Treasures, 20 episodes for their upcoming WWE Rivals series, and post-shows for their WWE themed Biography episodes for cable television network A&E. Khan also announced they will be sharing more details regarding their new programming being currently developed soon.
• WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon stated that the company was extremely pleased with the commercial and critical success of 2K Games’ WWE 2K22. McMahon also revealed that a new WWE-based RPG game is currently in production by 2K Games. McMahon stated “We were extremely pleased with the relaunch of our premium video game console franchise WWE 2K. After taking a little more than a year off to improve the game engine, we worked hand in glove with our partners at Take Two Interactive, listened to our customers and fans, and earned back their trust by delivering a game that exceeded their expectations. WWE 2K22 was a commercial and critical success with the highest Metacritic scores on both Xbox and Playstation platforms in franchise history with over 5.6 million hours viewed on Twitch to date. We continue to strengthen in the performance of our mobile games, with 2K and Scopely, SuperCard, and Champions, and recently signed a new deal in the role-playing game place that will be announced soon.“
• On the topic of the potential of WWE bundling together their streaming rights into their next television contracts for RAW and Smackdown, Khan stated that it is something they are looking into as an option. Khan also stated that they would first talk with heir existing partners NBC and FOX before making any official decision.
• On the topic of the possibility of an expansion of WWE Performance Centers globally, WWE Chief Financial Officer Frank Riddick stated that the company has yet to make an official decision but it is something currently under consideration.

Following WWE’s investor meeting and fiscal report release, WWE’s stocks declined from $60.82 per share to $59.49 per share during after-hours trading.

Sources: PWInsider.com 1 & 2, Fightful.com 1 & 2, F4WOnline.com