WWE PPV buyrates, Sky Box Office buys/viewing rates?

Rjd2

Oh dear.

hope Bryan doesn't cop to much flack for this, sure he was in the main event but so was Cena and Brock was probably paid bombs for his match.

NOC won't be pretty sadly:(
http://www.cagesideseats.com/2013/9/20/4753444/wwe-summerslam-2013-pay-per-view-buys-down-from-last-year

This year's WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place back on Sun.., Aug. 18, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, was a hugely important show. Not only would it set up the major angle WWE is planning on riding all the way to WrestleMania XXX in April of next year, but it was the first major show Daniel Bryan was in the main event for challenging for the WWE championship against the always reliable John Cena.

It's just too bad the news on the initial buyrate isn't better.

As released by WWE in its monthly business report, the show did roughly 298,000 buys breaking down to 186,000 domestic (North America) and 112,000 international. Here's how that compares to the past five years:

SummerSlam 2012: 358,000 buys (Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar)
SummerSlam 2011: 296,000 buys (John Cena vs. CM Punk)
SummerSlam 2010: 350,000 buys (Team WWE vs. Nexus)
SummerSlam 2009: 369,000 buys (CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy)
SummerSlam 2008: 470,000 buys (Undertaker vs. Edge)

What's truly frightening about the number is the fact that it came just before Cena was to go on a hiatus of four to six months to repair a torn triceps. He's likely out until the Royal Rumble, as is Sheamus. That doesn't mean Night of Champions won't end up being a PPV success, but it certainly doesn't inspire confidence.

Then again, WWE television has been much better as of late with multiple intriguing storylines playing themselves out. There's reason to be optimistic but there's still some cause for concern.

gnfnrhead

Yeah that really killed CM punk when that show got roughly the same number.

Rjd2

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Yeah that really killed CM punk when that show got roughly the same number.

Fair enough, but to be fair that was a PPV aimed at the internet, way to smarky of promos before hand.

Doubt it will hurt Bryan in the short term, but it is more worrying for the E, is Brock's mystique been killed. Doubt he is to bothered as he gets paid either way, but they are relying on him to bring in the numbers.

Its a very poor number though.

SlickRic

i'd put it down to HHH going over Brock at Mania tbh.

he hasn't drawn at Extreme Rules or Summerslam now.

Rjd2

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_74259.shtml#.UnO6RfnxrK8

WWE's PPV business took a hit in the Third Quarter of 2013, mainly due to one of the weakest Summerslam performances of the past five years.

Summerslam's official PPV buy total was 296,000 buys, down 17 percent from the 2012 Summerslam PPV.

WWE's Night of Champions event dipped seven percent from 189,000 buys last year to 175,000 buys this year. The 2013 event did top 2011 and 2010, though.

The bright spot was Money in the Bank, which drew 199,000 buys, up six percent from last year's total.

However, it was not enough to offset the overall PPV business. WWE reported that PPV Revenue was $14.6 million, down 10 percent from $16.3 million in Q3-2012. According to WWE, the decline was "primarily due to the performance of the Company's Summerslam event, which contributed to a 9 percent reduction in buys for the comparable quarter events."

WWE also acknowledged that the "relatively weak performance" of Summerslam contributed to a $1.4 million decline in PPV profit during the quarter.

Overall, the Third Quarter PPV Revenue segment was the lowest since 2010 and essentially tied with 2009 for second-lowest of the past seven years.

PPV Buys Trend

-- Money in the Bank (July)

2013: 199,000 buys
2012: 188,000 buys
2011: 195,000 buys
2010: 165,000 buys
2009: 267,000 buys ($5 lower PPV price)

-- Summerslam (August)

2013: 296,000 buys
2012: 358,000 buys
2011: 296,000 buys
2010: 350,000 buys
2009: 369,000 buys ($5 lower PPV price)

-- Night of Champions (September)

2013: 175,000 buys
2012: 189,000 buys
2011: 161,000 buys
2010: 165,000 buys

Third Quarter PPV Revenue Trend

Overall, WWE delivered its best Third Quarter PPV business since 2008.

2007 Q3: $18.8 million PPV revenue
2008 Q3: $16.4 million PPV revenue
2009 Q3: $14.5 million PPV revenue
2010 Q3: $13.6 million PPV revenue
2011 Q3: $15.8 million PPV revenue
2012 Q3: $16.3 million PPV revenue
2013 Q3: $14.6 million PPV revenue
Share on facebook

jaykhunter

Following on with that, WWE films' losses from 2010-2012 are $7 million greater than predicted so they've had to bear that. Also there's no plans to end WWE films, they'll "review it at the end of the year". The Miz's Marine 3 and The Call were money makers (the former not being that much, but hey) but it's a pittance to making up the now ~$38 million losses WWE Films has coming into 2013.

Still pushing ahead with WWE Network. Note that WrestleMania, RAW, Smackdown, Main Event, Superstars and Total Divas (unless it gets cancelled) will not be on the network - TV rights are WWE's main source of income. So it's basically getting archive footage and the other PPVs for $15/month. If it does launch it'll be in the US only to begin with. About 540k Americans bought WrestleMania but they'll need about double that number subscribing to the WWE Network for it to be financially viable.

gnfnrhead

Adding Raw, Smackdown etc to it would boost the numbers a lot.

grames_bond

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Adding Raw, Smackdown etc to it would boost the numbers a lot.

USA and Syfy deals are probably worth more to them though!

gnfnrhead

grames_bond wrote: »

USA and Syfy deals are probably worth more to them though!

Depends on how much they make compared to how much they would be charging.

If the Network doesn't bankrupt them, I think everything will end up on it eventually.

rovert

WWE's fourth quarter 2013 and full year financial report reveals one of the worst pay-per-view buy numbers in WWE history for the Battleground pay-per-view at 114,000 buys. The pay-per-view featured Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton.

The results then show a strong 228,000 buys for the October Hell In a Cell pay-per-view, which featured Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton with Shawn Michaels as referee. That is up from the 199,000 in 2012.

The Survivor Series pay-per-view, with Big Show vs. Randy Orton, in November drew 177,000 buys, down from the 208,000 buys in 2012.

December's TLC pay-per-view, with John Cena vs. Randy Orton, drew 181,000 pay-per-view buys, up just a bit from the 175,000 buys in 2012.

Some people online are already interpreting/ "spinning" this information to prove Daniel Bryan is a (relative) draw and WWE made a mistake in handling him from a BUSINESS prespective.

jaykhunter

Happy to hear Nov/Dec PPVs did poorly. Since SummerSlam it's been a rough time for WWE fans. Let's push Big Show & him taking the "YES!" chant was one of those TV-smashing moments.

gnfnrhead

Not sure how anyone can possibly spin that Battleground number as a positive for Bryan.

rovert

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Not sure how anyone can possibly spin that Battleground number as a positive for Bryan.

Came three weeks after Night of Champions. A very poorly received show and the Daniel Bryan's title win that people paid for was voided the next night. Also Bryan was portrayed as an unworthy goat face troll.

Machismo Fan

A year to year bump of 6,000 for the biggest match of all time isn't exactly stellar.

jaykhunter

I hope we get some smarky signs about it. "TLC 181,000 buys = best for business".

piledriverwrestling.net wrote:

Operating income was $5.9 million (down from $43.2 million in 2012). Net income was $2.8 million (down from $31.4 million in 2012)

They took a large hit from sorting the WWE Network. I wonder otherwise how they did

piledriverwrestling.net wrote:

Consumer Products, which was down 30.9% to $14.1 million. Most of this was from Home Entertainment which was down a whopping 48%, although licensing revenue was also down 14%.

DVDs are way down. I wonder how badly the WWE Network programming will further gouge that.

Machismo Fan

jaykhunter wrote: »

DVDs are way down. I wonder how badly the WWE Network programming will further gouge that.

I'd guess that DVD's are down because they're running out of material that people want to own that they haven't released already (a number of times). That's why I kind of worry a little for the network.

jaykhunter

Youu crazy! Who doesn't want "Best of unaired post-RAW matches" DVD?!

rovert

This had the potential to be good but it is like 80 minutes long and the extras are like Shawn Michaels "Tell Me A Lie" video:

Moneymaker

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Not sure how anyone can possibly spin that Battleground number as a positive for Bryan.

The buyrate has stank for months now. Bryan cannot be blamed for that.

Look at the abysmal Survivor Series buyrate, that show was built around a dire Big Show/Orton feud and Cena's return. Even their top draw couldn't salvage that mess.

jaykhunter

It's actually something I'd buy until I saw the DVD coverart. I could swear WWE's biggest demographic is 30+ year old men, not 12 year old girls. Unicorns hooray!

Rjd2

rovert wrote: »

Came three weeks after Night of Champions. A very poorly received show and the Daniel Bryan's title win that people paid for was voided the next night. Also Bryan was portrayed as an unworthy goat face troll.

Yep, I think everyone knew this was going to die, Bryan was booked like a nerd as well. The PPV itself had no recommendation value either bar the Rhodes match which was great, everything else meh.

Also if blame is to be handed out surely all these PPV's which have bombed all have Orton the chosen one as champion??

DM_7

It's a pity sky don't just do a PPV or WWE Channel like sky movies. Would happily pay 10 quid a Month on top of my sky sports sub.

Could out the PPV s on it for the week and then the weeks in between just show old PPVs on repeat.

gnfnrhead

DM-ICE wrote: »

It's a pity sky don't just do a PPV or WWE Channel like sky movies. Would happily pay 10 quid a Month on top of my sky sports sub.

Could out the PPV s on it for the week and then the weeks in between just show old PPVs on repeat.

Kind of like a WWE Network?

DM_7

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Kind of like a WWE Network?

Yep.

We know they have rights to all the PPVs and that they are not going to show them on sky sports so it might be a good way for them to get people to actually buy all the PPVs.

With the network it will be even easier for people to avoid buying from sky but at least a channel or even an annual pass might give people a reason to pay sky instead of going online.

Of course I might just be talking about things that might suit me!