Live & Televised Entertainment
Live events and television programming are our principal creative content and production activities. Our creative team develops compelling and complex characters and weaves them into dynamic storylines that combine physical and emotional elements. Storylines are usually played out in the wrestling ring and unfold on our weekly television shows, and culminate or change direction in our monthly pay-per-view events.
Our success is due primarily to the continuing popularity of our Superstars and Divas. We currently have 140 Superstars and Divas under exclusive contracts, ranging from multi-year guaranteed contracts with established Superstars to developmental contracts. Our Superstars and Divas are highly trained and motivated independent contractors whose compensation is tied to the revenue that they help generate. Popular Superstars and Divas include Triple H, John Cena, Batista, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Randy Orton, CM Punk, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Kane, Chris Jericho, Kelly Kelly, Melina, Maria and Maryse. We own the rights to substantially all of our characters, and we exclusively license the rights we do not own through agreements with our Superstars and Divas. We continually seek to identify, recruit and develop additional talent for our business.
Television Programming
Relying on our in-house production capabilities at our technologically advanced production facility, we produce seven hours of original weekly prime time programming, 52 weeks per year, distributed domestically, internationally and via WWE.com. Our domestic cable and broadcast programs are “Monday Night RAW” and “A.M. RAW” on USA Network, Telemundo and mun2; “Friday Night SmackDown” on MyNetworkTV; “ECW” on the Sci Fi Channel; and “WWE Superstars” on WGN America. WWE programs reach 15.6 million total viewers during the average week.
“Monday Night RAW” is a two-hour primetime program that is broadcast live on USA Network. It is among the most watched regularly scheduled programs on primetime cable television and anchors USA as a top-rated network. As part of the agreement with USA Network’s parent company, NBC Universal, RAW also airs in replays on Telemundo, mun2 and Universal HD.
The two-hour “Friday Night SmackDown” airs on MyNetworkTV in primetime on Fridays. SmackDown is the top rated broadcast program on Friday nights among Males under 55, Males under 18, M6-11, M12-17, M12-24, M12-34, M18-24, P6-11, P12-17, and P12-24 and is the most watched program on MyNetworkTV among all key demographics.
“ECW” is the top rated program on the Sci Fi Channel among Males under 18, M6-11, M12-17, M12-24, and M18-24. It also ranks among the top 10 regularly scheduled cable programs on Tuesday nights among Men 25-54 and Men 18+. “ECW” also airs replays on mun2 and Universal HD.
“WWE Superstars” has been WGN America’s most watched Thursday telecast every week since its premiere in April 2009.
WWE’s television programming can be seen in more than 145 countries around the world. Each year, more than 7,500 hours of WWE programming is broadcast in 30 languages in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. Our broadcast partners include BSkyB in the UK; Sky Italia, GXT and SportItalia in Italy; Sogecable in Spain; DSF and Premiere in Germany; TVI, SIC, and Sport TV in Portugal; Groupe AB and Canal + in France; MTV3 in Finland; SBS in Denmark; TV 4 in Sweden; Fox TV in Turkey; Extreme Sports Channel in Poland; NetMed Hellas in Greece; Galaxie Sport in Czech Republic & Slovakia; Sport RO in Romania; Eurosport throughout Europe; e.tv in South Africa; Ten Sports in India; J SPORTS in Japan; CJ Media in South Korea; TV3 and ASTRO in Malaysia; Foxtel; Channel Nine in Australia; Sky TV in New Zealand; Solar in the Philippines; Showtime, Orbit and E-Vision in the Middle East; Televisa, TV Azteca, PCTV and MVS in Mexico, Canal 9 in Argentina; and FX Channel in Latin America.Pay-Per-View Programming
WWE has been the world’s pre-eminent provider of pay-per-view programming for the past 25 years. In 2009, WWE will televise 14 live pay-per-view events and an additional 12 “WWE Presents” pay-per-view specials. Our pay-per-view productions consistently rank among the highest selling live pay-per-view event programs in the industry. WWE’s annual crown jewel, WrestleMania, repeatedly achieves more than one million buys worldwide. On April 5, 2009, WWE celebrated the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania in Houston, TX before a sold-out crowd of more than 72,744 fans with millions watching at home. The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania set a record for the highest grossing WWE event in WWE history.
Our international pay-per-view partners include Sky Box Office in the UK, SkyItaliain Italy, Premiere in Germany, Sogecable (Taquilla) in Spain, Cablevision in Mexico, SKY Perfect TV! and J:COM in Japan, Main Event in Australia, SKY Box Office in New Zealand, Canal + in France, StarHub in Singapore, Sky Pacific in Fiji, Astro Box Office Sport in Malaysia & Brunei, and Showtime, E-Vision, and Orbit in the Middle East.
Live Events
Our three brands, RAW, SmackDown, ECW, allow us to play numerous domestic markets and take advantage of the strong international demand for our events. In the first quarter of 2009, WWE held 83 live events domestically and 4 internationally, entertaining more than half a million fans at an average ticket price of $31.26.
Venue Merchandise
Our direct merchandise operations consist of the design, sourcing, marketing and distribution of numerous WWE-branded products, such as T-shirts, caps and many other novelty items, all of which feature our Superstars and Divas and logos. In the first quarter of 2009, fans attending our domestic live events spent an average of $10.35 on our merchandise.
WWE Classics On Demand
WWE Classics On Demand is a Subscription Video On-Demand (SVOD) service that offers highly-rated classic television shows, best-selling pay-per-view events, specials and original programming. The service draws its material from WWE's extensive video library, the largest of its kind in the world, and includes other iconic wrestling brands, such as WCW, ECW and AWA. WWE Classics subscribers have access to approximately 40 hours of content each month.
WWE Classics is currently distributed with 14 of the top 15 MSOs in the United States, making it available to more than 80 percent of VOD-enabled subscribers. Major North American distributors currently include: Comcast Communications, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision, Mediacom, Insight, Rogers Communications, Suddenlink, Verizon Communications, Bresnan Communications and RCN. WWE Classics is internationally distributed as well.
WWE Classics was launched in October 2004 under the name WWE 24/7 On Demand. The service was re-branded in April 2009 and features the new name, logo and on-screen graphics.