 |
| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
WWE announced to Variety that the company earned a record $72 million for WrestleMania 29 in total revenue. This includes ticket sales and pay-per-view buys. This is base speculation, but if you add in the merch sales and other ancillary stuff, they probably made a whole bunch more too, and with the indie wrestling stuff, hotel sales, restaurant business, and all the other good stuff that comes with a festival of this magnitude, the economic impact for the New York metropolitan area was probably staggering.
Why am I mentioning financial news? Because, unlike most things that are reported about WWE's financial and consumption statistics, this is one of the only numbers that matter. The money WWE makes at Mania sets it up for the rest of the year. It's probably not enough to say that all other 11 pay-per-views, house show gates, and ad revenue are gravy, but I can't see how they're scraping by week to week, especially with this tentpole keeping the place covered.
People in 2013 still kvetch about the week-to-week ratings or singular buyrates as if they mean anything anymore. They don't. Here are the things I fully believe that you, as a fan, should be worried about: your enjoyment of the show, WWE's social progress or lack thereof, the wrestling matches, memes, whom they sign and release, and how cool or lame their merchandise is. You can disagree with me all you want, and that's fine. You've got a mind of your own, and if you wanna follow the business side of things, knock yourself out. I'm just saying, overreacting to it might give you an ulcer unnecessarily.
Still, if you're going to concern yourself with the business aspect of it, know which numbers are important. The rating for the September 9th, 2013 episode of RAW is immaterial. Look at ratings trends from year to year, and then supplement that with social media activity, the kinds of ads that are appearing during RAW, and whether or not networks are continuing to add new WWE programming to their schedules (hint, they are).
As for pay-per-views, Mania's the only one that's important. If they have a good year, then hey, WWE is probably going to be around for the indefinite future. If not, then hey, that's good news for you too, because that usually means they'll try something new and fresh for the next year And hey, unless the number is Mania bad, like 800K, and something that's bad bad, like, say, 250K, it still means they'll be around for the foreseeable future.
So yeah, this is one of the only numbers that matters, and it's a good number. If you're a fan of WWE, and I would hazard a guess that at least 90% of you who read this are, then you don't have to worry about the company up and disappearing. The next time someone starts talking about how bad a singular show rating is going to be like it's the end of the world, smack them in the head and