{"id":1924,"date":"2015-10-29T10:31:12","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T15:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/?p=1924"},"modified":"2015-10-30T03:14:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T08:14:50","slug":"wwe-q3-call-mcmahon-barrios-discuss-nxt-vs-main-roster-network-pricing-tapout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2015\/10\/29\/wwe-q3-call-mcmahon-barrios-discuss-nxt-vs-main-roster-network-pricing-tapout\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE Q3 CALL &#8211; VKM &#038; Barrios discuss NXT vs. main roster &#038; Tapout (Big Update on Tapout)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3989590072\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>WWE held their Third Quarter 2015 conference call Thursday morning to discuss the latest financial results. The following are highlights from\u00a0the call hosted by WWE CEO Vince McMahon and financial executive George Barrios.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/29\/wwe-q3-call-wwe-addresses-low-tv-ratings-how-it-affects-entire-biz\/\">Full Report on WWE addressing slumping TV ratings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0WWE believes the rise and popularity of the NXT brand relates to YouTube popularity and social media engagement. &#8220;<span class=\"s1\">We attribute a lot of NXT growth and vibrancy to social media,&#8221; Barrios said, &#8220;which is why a brand\u00a0available on a Network-based subscription service can sell out the Barclays Center,&#8221; referring to NXT: Takeover in Brooklyn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>McMahon referred to NXT\u00a0as &#8220;turning into a brand itself&#8221; in his opening remarks, even crediting &#8220;Paul Levesque (Triple H), my son-in-law.&#8221; However,\u00a0Barrios said during the Q&amp;A\u00a0that WWE does not view\u00a0NXT as a competitor to the &#8220;main stage&#8221; brands of Raw or Smackdown.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That doesn&#8217;t even enter our minds,&#8221; Barrios said. &#8220;Different people like different things. It has a different vibe, feel, and the audience is different.&#8221; Barrios added: &#8220;We&#8217;re not worried at all about quote\/unquote competition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Regarding different price plans for the Network, Barrios said WWE likes the simplified $9.99\/month approach, as it&#8217;s easy to market and get the message out. Barrios said there might ultimately be different versions of the Network at different prices long-term, but right now they like the simplified approach.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Barrios declined to talk about their business partnership with <strong>Tapout<\/strong>. &#8220;We&#8217;re not making any news today,&#8221; Barrios commented. He said to &#8220;stay tuned&#8221; on product announcements.<\/p>\n<p>WWE did make some news in their <a href=\"http:\/\/ir.corporate.wwe.com\/Cache\/c31655345.html\" target=\"_blank\">10-Q report filed with the SEC<\/a>\u00a0by disclosing\u00a0new details on their investment in Tapout&#8217;s re-launch:<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-779232652\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;During the current year period, the Company received an equity interest in Tapout <strong>valued at <\/strong><strong>$13.8 million<\/strong> in exchange for promotional service obligations to be provided in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>WWE said they met the obligation during the current-year period, so they recorded revenue of $1.58 million in Q3-2015. Through the first nine months of the year, WWE has recorded revenue of $1.68 million.<\/p>\n<p>WWE currently has $14.275 of assets related to their investment. Their remaining &#8220;service obligation&#8221; to the 50\/50 agreement with Tapout is $12.120 million. Therefore, if the partnership were to fall apart, WWE&#8217;s &#8220;known maximum exposure to loss approximates the remaining service obligation to Tapout, which was $12.120 (million)\u00a0as of September\u00a030, 2015. Creditors of Tapout do not have recourse against the general credit of WWE.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2412880099\"><div id=\"pwtor-2733097080\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE held their Third Quarter 2015 conference call Thursday morning to discuss the latest financial results. The following are highlights from\u00a0the call hosted by WWE CEO Vince McMahon and financial executive George Barrios. &#8211; Full <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2015\/10\/29\/wwe-q3-call-mcmahon-barrios-discuss-nxt-vs-main-roster-network-pricing-tapout\/\" title=\"WWE Q3 CALL &#8211; VKM &#038; Barrios discuss NXT vs. main roster &#038; Tapout (Big Update on Tapout)\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[690,184,71,696],"class_list":["post-1924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news_wwe","tag-george-barrios","tag-vince-mcmahon","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-q3-2015"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/McMahongym_3x2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1924"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2057,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924\/revisions\/2057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}