Live & Televised Entertainment
Live events and television programming are our principal creative 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. We currently have nearly 160 Superstars under exclusive contracts, ranging from multi-year guaranteed contracts with established Superstars to developmental contracts. Our Superstars are highly trained and motivated independent contractors whose compensation is tied to the revenue that they help generate. Popular Superstars include Triple H, John Cena, Batista, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Kane, Bobby Lashley, Mr. Kennedy and Torrie Wilson. 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. 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 original weekly 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, “Friday Night SmackDown” on The CW Network and “ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling” on the Sci Fi Channel. WWE programs reach nearly 14 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 the most watched regularly scheduled program on ad-supported 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 and mun2.
The two-hour “Friday Night SmackDown” airs on The CW Network in primetime on Fridays. SmackDown continues to be the top rated program on Friday nights among total teens, male teens and males 18-34 and is the most watched program on The CW network among all key all key male and person demographics. SmackDown has also consistently been one of the top 10 English language primetime programs among Hispanic households.
“ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling” is the top rated program on the Sci Fi Channel among all key demographics except for P25-54, which ranked #2, and is one of the top 10 programs on primetime cable on Tuesday nights among males 12-34, 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54. (Source: Nielsen Media Research, 7/1/07-9/30/07)
WWE’s television programming can be seen in more than 130 countries around the world. Each year, more than 7,500 hours of WWE programming is broadcast in 22 languages throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. Our broadcast partners include BSkyB in the UK, Sky Italia and Jetix in Italy, Sogecable in Spain, DSF and Premiere in Germany, SIC and TVI in Portugal, Extreme Sports Channel in Poland, e.tv in South Africa, Ten Sports in India, J SPORTS in Japan, CJ Media in South Korea, TV 3 and ASTRO in Malaysia, Foxtel and Main Event in Australia, Arab Radio Television, Showtime and Orbit in the Middle East, SBT in Brazil, Canal 9 in Argentina, MVS in Mexico and FX Channel in Latin America.
Pay-Per-View Programming
WWE has been the pre-eminent provider in both the production and promotion of pay-per-view events for the past 20 years. In 2007, WWE will produce 14 pay-per-view events with our productions consistently rank among the highest selling pay-per-view event programs in the industry. On April 1, 2007, WrestleMania 23, achieved nearly 1.2 million buys and was the highest grossing one-day live event in WWE history. Our international pay-per-view partners include SKY Box Office in the UK, SKY Italia in Italy, Premiere in Germany, SKY Perfect TV! in Japan, and Main Event in Australia.
Live Events
Our three brands, RAW, SmackDown and ECW, allow us to play numerous domestic markets while also taking advantage of the strong international demand for our events. Through the third quarter of 2007, average paid attendance to our North America events has increased for eleven consecutive quarters on a year-over-year basis, with a 23 percent year-over-year increase through the first nine months of the year
In 2006, we held 346 live events, including 61 international events, entertaining more than 2.0 million fans at an average ticket price of $41.69.
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 logos. During 2006, fans attending our domestic live events spent an average of $11.11 each on our merchandise. During the first nine months of 2007, fans spent an average of $11.41 on our merchandise.
WWE 24/7 On-Demand
WWE 24/7 On-Demand is a Subscription Video On-Demand (SVOD) service that offers highly-rated and best-selling classic television shows, pay-per-view events, specials and original programming. Most of this material is drawn from WWE's extensive video library, the largest of its kind in the world, and includes other leading wrestling brands, such as WCW, ECW and AWA. WWE 24/7 subscribers have access to approximately 40 hours of content each month.
WWE 24/7 On Demand is currently distributed with 13 of the top 15 MSOs in the country, making WWE 24/7 available to more than 75 percent of VOD enabled subscribers. Major North American distributors currently include: Comcast Communications, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision, Mediacom, Insight, Rogers Communications, Verizon Communications, Bresnan Communications and RCN. Internationally, WWE 24/7 On Demand is available in Japan, Italy, India and Israel.