Notes from WWE’s 2023 Fiscal 1st Quarter Report

WWE held an investor’s meeting earlier today discussing the results from their fiscal 2023 first quarter report.

In regards to revenues, WWE generated $297.4 million in net revenues for the fiscal quarter, down 11% compared last year’s fiscal first quarter. Operating income for the fiscal quarter was $53.1 million, down 43% compared to last year’s fiscal first quarter. The reason for the drops was due to the lack of a Saudi event taking place during the fiscal quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

WWE generated a net income of $36.7 million for the fiscal quarter, which was down compared to last year’s fiscal first quarter of $66.1 million.

In regards to other financial areas, WWE’s Adjusted OIBDA for the fiscal quarter was $84.2 million, down 25% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. WWE’s events revenue for the fiscal quarter was $32.6 million, up compared to last year’s fiscal first quarter of $23.1 million. WWE’s consumer revenue for the fiscal quarter was $39.3 million, up compared to last year’s fiscal quarter of $32.2 million.

In regards to WrestleMania 39, it was announced that the two-night event generated a total attendance of 161,892, which was stated to be the highest ever grossing and attended WrestleMania event in WrestleMania history. It was also announced that WrestleMania 39 was the most watched ever WWE event in WWE history with unique viewership up 29% compared to last year’s WrestleMania 38. It was also announced that WrestleMania 39 also generated the highest ever sponsorship revenue for a WrestleMania event. In regards to merchandise sales, it was announced that this was up 20% compared to last year’s event and broke the record for high ever merchandise sales for a WrestleMania event.

In regards to ticket sales revenues, it was announced that North American ticket sales revenues was up 52% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. It was stated that the reason was due to a 37% increase in average attendance for their events during the fiscal quarter, which was an average of 7,850 per show.

In regards to television ratings for the fiscal quarter, WWE RAW was stated to have averaged 1,834,000 viewers per show during the quarter, which was up 7% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. WWE NXT was stated to have averaged 606,000 viewers per show during the quarter, down 1.8% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. USA Network’s average viewership for the quarter was stated to be 603,000, which was down 17% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. WWE Friday Night SmackDown was stated to have averaged 2,357,000 viewers per show during the quarter, which was up 7% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter. FOX’s average viewership for the quarter was stated to be 2,354,000, which was down 1% compared to last year’s fiscal quarter.

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

• WWE CEO Nick Khan stated that the company is currently in the process of getting regulatory approval done for their purchase to Endeavor. Khan stated that they currently expect their deal to be finalized by the end of this year’s fiscal second quarter.
• Khan also stated that they are currently in talks with both NBC Universal and FOX for potential new television deals for RAW and SmackDown. Later in the Q&A session, Khan stated that NBCU and FOX’s exclusivity window for talks are about a month apart.
• Khan also stated that this past January’s Royal Rumble 2023 event was the most watched event in Royal Rumble history, this past February’s Elimination Chamber 2023 generated the highest live gate ever for an event in Elimination Chamber history, and their upcoming SummerSlam 2023 generated the highest ever first day ticket sales for a non-WrestleMania WWE event in company history.
• Khan also stated that the company received a “seven figure subsidiary” to hold this Saturday’s Backlash 2023 event in Puerto Rico. Khan also stated that they are currently in talks with other locales for similar type deals for their PLEs.
• On the topic of the increased operating costs for the fiscal quarter, WWE CFO Frank Riddick stated that the main reason was due to certain events being moved around from this past fiscal first quarter to their fiscal second quarter and the rising costs to stage those events.
• On the topic of their issues with getting a new rights deal for India, Khan stated that they had to pause all of their efforts due to issues related to COVID-19 pandemic in India and Sony India’s merger process with Zee.
• On the topic of Endeavor’s purchase of WWE, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated that the excitement level is high in Endeavor while they are currently excited at the idea of Endeavor doing what they do to help grow WWE internationally across the board.
• On the topic of WWE’s increases in viewership during the past fiscal quarter, Levesque stated that this was due to them “having assembled the right team across the board – the talents that they continue to build through NIL, the PC and internationally recruiting.” Levesque also praised WWE Executive Producer & Head of Global Television Distribution Kevin Dunn and his production team for being “unlike anything else in the world.”
• Levesque also stated that their current creative mentality is to look as far ahead as a year into the future and then work backwards for their creative plans and storylines. Levesque stated that if something ends up not working out as planned, they do not view it as a failure but instead as a learning experience.
• In regards to potential international acquisitions, Khan stated that the company is currently focused on closing their Endeavor deal, next television deals in the United States, and building their existing business. Khan stated that once those are done, the company will look into potential new acquisition deals in the future.
• On the topic of the current Writers Guild strike, Khan stated that the company will not be affected due to none of their writers are members of the Guild but they are supportive of the strike and are hopeful a deal can be reached soon. Khan also stated that this strike would have no impact on any of their A&E-related programming.

Source: PWInsider.com 1 & 2, PostWrestling.com, F4WOnline.com