WWE Q4 financials: Record achievements, Vince McMahon praise

This post has been updated with notes from the investor call and subsequent Q&A.

WWE’s financial dominance remains unmatched in the industry with the company announcing record-breaking yearly revenue and another strong quarter to end the year.

Ahead of their quarterly investors call Thursday afternoon, the company released their reports and touted a company-best $1.3 billion in net revenue — an increase of 18% year-over-year (YOY). Their operating income also increased to a record $283.8 million, up 11% YOY.

The record numbers were fueled by their various rights deals with NBCUniversal and Fox for both Raw, SmackDown and domestic WWE Network rights. Additionally, they enjoyed a full year of ticketed shows and their return to Saudi Arabia this past fall.

The other category of media revenue, which contains the revenue from the Saudi show and additional programming, was up to $148.5 million from $73.5 million YOY.

Their media revenue increased by roughly $97 million YOY. In the case of live events, revenue increased to $123.1 million YOY from 2021’s $57.8 million. Consumer product revenues were up by roughly $33 million YOY.

The company did 231 total ticketed live events in 2022: 218 domestic and 13 internationally. The domestic shows averaged 6100 for attendance. Those numbers are up from 2021’s 101 total ticketed events (88 domestic/13 internationally) with an average of 6900 in attendance.

Quarterly success

For the last quarter of 2022, WWE generated revenues of $325.3 million — an increase of 5%. The increase (due to “network revenues related to the timing of premium live events as well as higher monetization of third-party original programming”) were offset by declines in consumer product licensing and online sales in addition to the staging of the event in Saudi Arabia this past year and the prior year.

Operating income for the quarter decreased by 22% to $62.7 million due to content creation costs, the Board’s Special Committee investigation into Vince McMahon, and a higher stock compensation expense.

The report noted there was $2.3 million (Q4) and $21.7 million (2022) “associated with certain costs” related to the Board investigation into McMahon in addition to $7.4 million in expenses “related to certain payments to be made by the Company’s controlling stockholder.”

Media revenue was up to $279.7 million YOY, buoyed by increased WWE Network license fees that were up to $47.1 million YOY and the “Other” category (powered by the Saudi show) that increased to $61.7 million.

While live events were up slightly to $23.8 million YOY, consumer product revenue dipped to $21.8 million from $32.6 million YOY. 

During the quarter, WWE held 61 ticketed events: 54 domestically and seven in international markets. In 2021, they did 57 total ticketed events: 48 domestically and nine in international markets. Average attendance was approximately 5500 for the North American shows, up from 2021’s 5200 average.

The decrease in consumer product revenue was chalked up to a decrease in both licensing (down to $12.3 million from 2021’s $18.1 million) and ecommerce revenue (down to $5 million from 2021’s $11 million). Venue sales were up by $1 million YOY

Big domestic viewership increases for PPVs

The company stated last November’s Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, headlined by Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul, was WWE’s most viewed international event ever with a 70% YOY increase on Peacock.

Both Extreme Rules (36% YOY increase) and Survivor Series (46% YOY increase) broke domestic records for most viewership as well.

While not in Q4, they still reported numbers on last Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble. They experienced a 52% YOY increase in domestic viewership with the highest gate in Rumble history.

Call Notes: TV, Vince & Stephanie praise

• Nick Khan, Paul Levesque and Frank Riddick conducted the call. Khan acknowledged Vince McMahon’s return to the company as did Levesque later on, saying having McMahon around “has been great” and having him back, even just at the Board level, is a “tremendous asset” to the company.
• Khan also gave praise to Stephanie McMahon in referencing her exit from the company.
• Khan acknowledged the exploration of a sale without saying the word “sale” and that they were reviewing all options for shareholder value. What they are looking for with a partner and how the sale could affect media rights came up consistently during the Q&A portion.
• Khan said that McMahon’s inclusion in running WWE wouldn’t be a factor with a sale and that he would step down and not be involved if it meant more for shareholder value.
• Any sale would honor the existing NBCU & Fox deals. The first renewal rights window begins after WrestleMania. 
• When talking about NBCUniversal, Khan said he really liked the “cadence” of their WWE promotion and the ability to move Raw to different networks when pre-emption is needed, citing the Winter Olympics example.
• Khan said WWE set gate records for both Raw and SmackDown in more than 20 cities in 2022.
• Khan said more than 12,000 tickets have been sold for February’s Elimination Chamber in Montreal.
• Khan said WWE expects bigger success with sponsorship revenue in 2023 and are off to a strong start with Royal Rumble sales nearly tripling and that sponsorship revenue is up 98% thus far YOY.
• Khan said they are exploring selling rights to “ring assets” (think ring apron, turnbuckles, mat). 
• Khan said Mountain Dew/Pepsi came to them wanting to sponsor a match. His team then went to Levesque and asked what could be done.
• Khan says more companies are interested in WWE media rights than last time around (two).
• NBCUniversal and USA Network are “thrilled” with NXT’s performance and WWE internally is happy with its growth.
• An advance of their delayed plans in India appears to be on tap for April if regulatory issues are resolved there. Khan said the pandemic really delayed some plans there.