NEW YORK: The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has once again enhanced its reputation of being one of the most bankable sports properties in the world with revenues amounting to a whopping $281.6 million for the second quarter of 2018 between April 1 and June 30. This is an increase of 31% from last year’s revenues during the same quarter.
It also announced that its operating income nearly doubled from $10.7 million to $21.2 million when the two periods are compared.
Overall, the WWE has accounted for revenues of $469.3 million throughout the year so far. This is also largely responsible due to the distribution of certain programming content in international markets that included license fees from the distribution of the WWE’s flagship programs, Raw and SmackDown and the continued growth of the WWE Network that yielded a 10% increase in average paid subscribers to 1.80 million. Its overall worth is said to be $202.6 million.
For its social and digital platforms, WWE produced more than 165 hours of content, including versions of its Best of WWE series in Spanish, Portuguese, and German, and plans to launch a new series, WWE Now in Arabic. This is besides more in-ring content to come with the next women’s tournament, Mae Young Classic 2018 and the first-ever all-women’s pay-per-view event, WWE Evolution.
When it comes to viewership in 2018 so far, 14.4 billion people were tuned into these platforms. This is a 58% rise from last year and as a result, hours consumed shot up to 509 million which is a 71% jump.
“We’re pleased with our continued success in increasing the monetization of WWE content globally,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO.
“This success is evidenced by the completion of our new U.S. distribution agreements with USA Network and Fox Sports, the staging of another record-breaking WrestleMania, and the development of a 10-year strategic partnership with the Saudi General Sports Authority.”
As of consumer products, revenues increased 9% to $26.7 million primarily due to higher royalties from the sale of licensed consumer products and the timing of merchandise sales related to WWE’s WrestleMania Fan Axxess. The increase in licensing revenues reflected higher royalties from the sale of video games, including the company’s franchise game, WWE 2K19, and the mobile game, WWE Champions (Scopely).
During the quarter, the Company continued to develop new licensing partnerships, such as those with Carl’s Jr.’s and Guardian Essentials to promote kids meals and multivitamins (shaped like WWE Championship belts), respectively, and to expand the presence of WWE among children. The vitamins were made available on WWE’s ecommerce site, WWE Shop, and Amazon.com.
As of quarter-end, the Company had more than 90 million installs across its game portfolio, led by WWE Champions and WWE Supercard and including WWE’s newest game, WWE Mayhem which recently surpassed 12 million installs.
George Barrios, Co-President, added, “During the second quarter, we generated a 79% increase in Adjusted OIBDA. We are raising our 2018 Adjusted OIBDA target to a range of $160 million to $170 million, which would be an all-time record. By executing our strategy and engaging our passionate global fan base, we can continue to deepen the moat around our business. We believe this will enable us to drive long-term growth and shareholder value.”
WWE defines Adjusted OIBDA as operating income excluding depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense, certain impairment charges and other non-recurring material items that otherwise would impact the comparability of results between periods. Adjusted OIBDA includes amortization expenses directly related to the Company’s revenue generating activities, including the amortization of feature film, television production and WWE Network programming assets.
