WWE announces company-best $1+ billion in revenue for 2021
WWE announced Thursday that 2021 company revenue increased by 12% to a company record $1.095 billion, the highest in their history.
The news came on the same day as their Q4 earnings call, the notes of which can be found below. Among other highlights mentioned in their release was a 24% increase in operating income to $259 million.
Year over year, fourth quarter revenue increased by 30% to $310.3 million while operating income increased 131% to $83.6 million. Part of that driver was live event attendance, including their return to Saudi Arabia, which wasn’t the case in the fourth quarter of 2020 as they held no live events.
Consumer product revenue increased by 21% to $32.6 million.
Live event attendance in the fourth quarter averaged 5200 which was down from the third quarter but in line with the fourth quarter of 2019.
As usual, the call was positive about the current day and the future, especially as relates to the next round of TV rights.
During the Q&A portion, WWE president Nick Khan indicated there are going to be more players bidding on rights than there were for the last round of deals as players like Netflix, Apple and others join the fight for sports streaming rights.
He later said they feel as good about a new deal for WWE Raw second day streaming rights as they did for their last Raw/SmackDown deals and Peacock/WWE Network deal. The rights are currently with Hulu and are up this year.
Peacock News
Khan provided numbers from Peacock that showed sharp increases in viewership from 2019 when they were on WWE Network:
- July 2021 MITB: 25% higher
- August 2021 SummerSlam: over 30% higher
- September 2021 Extreme Rules 20% higher
- October 2021 Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia: 75% higher
- November 2021 Survivor Series: almost 25% higher
He later noted that the first-ever Day 1 attracted 60% higher viewership than any December “premium live event” in company history and was a big success as it sold out.
He later put over the success of the Royal Rumble with “more than 44,000 in attendance” and the second largest gate in event history. There was 45% higher viewership on Peacock vs. the 2020 Rumble.
He said 3.5 million fully paid Peacock subscribers have watched WWE programming since moving over to the streaming service.
Khan said they are looking at more international partnerships with WWE Network in other countries and are going region by region, country by country to figure out the right partners like what they did with Disney+ in Indonesia recently.
Other Notes:
Vince McMahon provided brief remarks at the onset, saying WWE re-imagines their business every month and every week, citing a very flexible staff.
During the Q&A portion, there were no questions related to AEW, Shane McMahon, or talent cuts.
Khan said the company has more than a dozen signed content deals in the works utilizing existing IP that will be announced soon.
They are planning on two large-scale international events next year with Khan throwing in, “Why just limit it to two?,” indicating they are looking at more of them in 2023.
In talking about some of their various partnerships they signed over the last year, Khan said they have signed a deal for WWE-branded lottery tickets to debut in several states this year.
Khan mentioned how they are executive producers for the new Ronda Rousey show on ESPN+ called Ronda’s Places which is designed to be like the Peyton Manning show on that streaming service.
Bad Bunny and Johnny Knoxville’s appearances in the Royal Rumble were mentioned several times during the call with Khan saying that top stars are seeking out WWE for appearances and exposure.
There was lots of talk of gaming and how they feel it’s going to be even bigger. They talked about WWE2K and other offerings, noting that 85% of WWE fans identify themselves as gamers.
They talked about their NIL program several times and that they are hoping to attract talents that don’t quite make it to the NFL, citing Goldberg, Big E and others as examples of standout college athletes.
Stephanie McMahon said that there’s no reason WWE shouldn’t be in the hundreds of millions in the years ahead for both advertising and sponsorship revenue. They generated nearly $72 million in 2021.
She later said they are looking into how to be part of the Metaverse as they see a huge opportunity to be involved. They are doing their due diligence to go about things the right way.