WWE Q3 financial report news and notes

[Chris]

Editor's Note: We'll have notes later in this post from the investors portion of the call which starts at 5 PM Eastern time.

In what is becoming a redundant statement every three months, WWE had another successful quarter, announcing they generated nearly $305 million in Q3 revenue -- up 19% year-over-year (YOY).

The driver of the increase was media rights fees for Raw and SmackDown and the monetizing of third-party original programming (up by $30.3 million YOY). Licensing revenue and international ticket sales also contributed (up by $18.8 million YOY).

Interestingly, ads and sponsorship were down YOY to $13.2 million from $16.1 million a year ago.

Their reported operating income was down 8% YOY to $58.9 million while adjusted OIBDA was $91.2 million, up 17%. The operating income was down due to operating expenses being up, "primarily driven by higher costs to support the creation of content as well as the impact of certain costs related to the Special Committee investigation" into Vince McMahon.

In their report, it was noted that the Committee has now disbanded as the investigation into the former Chairman & WWE CEO is over.

"Management is working with the Board to implement the recommendations of the Special Committee related to the investigation. For the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2022, the Company’s consolidated pre-tax results include the impact of $17.7 million and $19.4 million, respectively, associated with certain costs related to the investigation," it read.

Peacock PLE increases

While also citing the first-ever Clash at the Castle as their most viewed international event in company history, the last quarter saw three U.S.-based pay-per-views (premium live events) experience increased viewership on Peacock as follows:

• Money In The Bank: 17%
• SummerSlam: 20%
• Extreme Rules: 36%

Other developments from the quarter that were cited in their release included their media rights partnership renewal with Australia's Foxtel; the NXT Europe announcement, and the launch of their Campus Rush recruitment tour.

Live event revenue & attendance

• Live event revenue was up by 26% to $35.2 million, driven by Clash at the Castle's $8 million in revenue.
• There were 58 total tickets live events in Q3 (57 North American and one international), up from 42 a year ago (38 North American and four international).
• North American average attendance was nearly 6300, down from nearly 8300 last year in the same time period.

We'll have notes later in this post from the investors portion of the call which starts at 5 PM Eastern time.

WWE Q3 finances: Vince McMahon investigation completed, attendance numbers, investor call notes

WWE had another great three months of business.

www.f4wonline.com

 

[Chris]

Investor call notes

Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque and Frank Riddick were on the call.

• There was a lot of talk about the White Rabbit Project that led to Bray Wyatt's return with social media usage and viewership increases for Extreme Rules and SmackDown touted. Levesque reiterated they will be doing more campaigns like this in the future.
• Khan said the 2023 Royal Rumble in San Antonio currently has a gross gate exceeding $4.6 million and that WrestleMania has 100,000 tickets sold thus far for the two nights in Los Angeles.
• They have done a short-term extension of their second-day Raw rights deal with Hulu (Disney) that will better align with their bigger rights deal that is up in 2024.
• A Bianca Belair/Montez Ford-focused show is coming to Hulu in 2023.
• Levesque strongly hinted that Jake Paul will be in Logan Paul's corner in his match against Roman Reigns at Saturday's Crown Jewel.
• Levesque nodded toward more long-term thinking with storylines and content creation, especially with how WrestleMania flows into the summer and so on.
• Khan said WWE has an offer to host one of their premium live events which they hope to close on soon. He earlier said to expect more site fees like they got for Clash at the Castle from the city of Cardiff.
• Levesque says NXT Europe will be like what we see in US with recruitment with a focus on young athletes, training & development, and an eventual path onto the main roster.
• Levesque said with recruits, they have around a six-month cutoff period and another one four-to-six months after that to help thin things out.

 

[Deezy]

A Belair and Ford show, not even on USA.....least it wasn't Youtube.

 

[Dale]

So that bottom bullet point pretty much confirms those reports / speculation on the evaluation periods. Not a bad strategy I don't think.

 

[Death By Looch]

Khan said WWE has an offer to host one of their premium live events which they hope to close on soon. He earlier said to expect more site fees like they got for Clash at the Castle from the city of Cardiff.

Doha or Dubai?

 

[Chris]

Did y'all see that apparently there's a show about Bianca and Montez scheduled for Hulu btw lol

 

[Sabretooth]

Did y'all see that apparently there's a show about Bianca and Montez scheduled for Hulu btw lol

A reality show?

 

[Chris]

I'm guessing lol they didn't specify

 

[Bad News Booty]

I'm guessing lol they didn't specify

I hope it’s an adventure show where they fight crime!!!





Of course it’s a reality show


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[Chris]

I hope it’s an adventure show where they fight crime!!!





Of course it’s a reality show


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This would actually be so much better tho damn

 

[Deezy]

This would actually be so much better tho damn

Stepping on Apollo's gimmick.

 

[Bad News Booty]

This would actually be so much better tho damn

I was picturing something like this




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[Kiffy Lube]

Bianca and Monte are into urban explorin' and ghost shit. So if it's a show with them, I'm all in.

 

[Wiseman]

Bianca and Monte are into urban explorin' and ghost shit. So if it's a show with them, I'm all in.

Wait really? I would absolutely be all for that. Bianca and Montez entertaining me while ghost hunting. I couldn't resist.

 

[#Waddles]

So...switching from WWE Network to Peacock was a good move then, right? At least for the Americans.

This is good.