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WWE Q3 CONFERENCE CALL: McMahon & Barrios host discussion of Network performance & future, Rogers Canada deal, more

Oct 30, 2014 - 10:55:47 AM
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By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

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WWE management discussed Third Quarter 2014 business with investors and analysts on Thursday morning. WWE CEO Vince McMahon offered opening remarks summarizing WWE's performance during the quarter, then did not speak again. Financial executive George Barrios offered his prepared remarks, then fielded all Q&A questions.

Highlights included:

-- The main questions were on the performance of WWE Network, which Barrios was reluctant to release details on beyond what WWE released in their earnings report.

Barrios avoided a question on what information WWE found out from subscribers who left the Network after the initial six-month commitment. Instead, Barrios stressed WWE's statistic of 90 percent viewership weekly and 99 percent monthly.

Asked which programs are performing well beyond the tentpole monthly PPVs, Barrios declined to get into specifics. Barrios noted that "anything live and anchored by PPV events is by far the best performing." Barrios also said the video on-demand library is "big" for viewership.

“Depending on what you want to see, it’s there," Barrios emphasized. However, WWE has only released 2,500 hours of their claimed 100,000 hours of library footage.

Asked how many subscribers WWE is anticipating by the end of the year, Barrios said it's still too early to tell since they're not even one year into the Network. "We don't want to predict too much," Barrios said.

Barrios did note that WWE will not be including the free sign-ups in November in their subscriber count; only those who then convert to a pay subscription in December.

For 2015 and beyond, Barrios noted WWE is continuing to invest in new programming and global distribution. Notable markets they are targeting after launching the Network in the U.K. in November include Italy, Germany, UAE, Japan, India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Overall, WWE anticipates a "gradual ramp-up" of Network subscribers through creating awareness, marketing efforts, and the WWE audience forming new technology habits.

Barrios said WWE believes they turned a corner with Night of Champions, which did not have the disparity in Network viewership usually seen between a major PPV like WrestleMania and NOC in terms of PPV buys. However, this year's Mania was the first "Network Era" PPV event, while NOC was seven months into the era, allowing for the gap to be closed by time and acceptance.

-- Regarding the performance of WWE's hybrid Network deal with Rogers in Canada, Barrios declined to offer specifics. (WWE did not release any information on Rogers in the earnings release.) Barrios said the performance has met expectations and Rogers is working to expand distribution throughout Canada, noting they only have 20 percent reach in the country at the moment.

-- Barrios said WWE has received a $50 million up-front, partial payment from their new TV contracts. Barrios did not clarify which of the seven new TV contracts the payment came from.

WWE added in their 10-Q filing on Friday: "In October 2014, the Company received a $50,000,000 advance payment related to a recently executed television distribution agreement. The $50,000,000 advance will be recorded as deferred revenue and will be reduced as earned per the terms of the agreement."


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