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WWE 2021 Financial Analysis: Revenue Reaches $1 Billion, 2022 Projections, Peacock Viewership

Wrestling Roman Reigns
Carlos Toro Feb 3, 2022 8:52PM

When COVID-19 first hit the United States on a national scale in early 2020, many industries changed how they conducted business in the wake of the pandemic. Some thrived, some failed.

For WWE, the 2021 financial earnings report proved they were in the former, ending the year on a strong note with revenue at more than a billion dollars, which is the best the company has ever generated.

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While a pandemic is never an ideal time for any business, WWE has made the most of whatever obstacles they encountered in the past 22 months to ensure that regular television programming continued while also securing their financial future.

The biggest move WWE made was its deal with NBCUniversal to have content from the WWE Network, including live pay-per-view and special events, to the Peacock streaming service. Not only did WWE secure another broadcasting deal to have another platform show WWE content, but as this article will further elaborate, expanded its reach far greater than what the WWE Network in the United States could achieve.

After months of holding shows in front of no fans - first at the WWE Performance Center, later in various venues using the “ThunderDome” setup, the company is now back to holding shows with paid fans in attendance and back on a live touring schedule, which includes events being held outside of the United States.

Although one would be hard-pressed to say things are back to normal, WWE feels comfortable from a business-perspective and is more open about their future projections and plans to expand its reach even more in the coming years.

“In 2021, we reached a significant milestone of over $1 billion in revenue, for the first time in the company’s history. We ended the year with strong performance across each of our business lines that reflected the engagement of a wider audience with distribution on new digital platforms, including Peacock, and the return of fans at our live events,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO. “We expect the execution of key initiatives in the coming year, such as the licensing of network content in international markets, monetization of new original series, and the continued shift to a stadium strategy for WWE’s premium live events, will further expand the reach of our brands and enhance the value of our content.”

WWE Revenue Reaches $1 Billion For The Year:

The company finished 2021 with a net revenue of $1.095 billion, the highest in its history and shattering 2020’s net revenue of $974.2 million. For Q4 2021, WWE’s net revenue finished at $310.3 million, up year-to-year from 2020 Q4’s $238.5 million. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

In addition, the company’s Adjusted OIBDA finished at $327.1 million for the year, up from 2020’s Adjusted OIBDA of $286.2 million. In terms of Q4, the company nearly doubled its Adjusted OIBDA year-to-year, with 2021 finishing at $97.2 million while 2020 only did $51.2 million.

One of the main reasons for the strong close to the year was the company’s return to Saudi Arabia for the Crown Jewel show last October. WWE’s current partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been a financially lucrative one for the company, one that calls for multiple shows in the country per year. Last year’s show was the first one since February 2020’s Super ShowDown. With travel mostly back to how it was pre-pandemic, WWE hopes that it can return to Saudi Arabia a second time this year and run more than one show there from 2023 through the end of its deal.

Part of the reason for the increase of revenue is the growth of domestic core content rights fees for Raw and SmackDown as well as the return of fans attending shows. WWE spent the majority of 2020 holding shows with no fans, leaving the company with roughly $19.9 million made in live event revenue (WWE conducted 41 events in the United States in 2020 Q1 before the pandemic). Fast forward to 2021 and the company finished with $57.8 million in that same category.

However, live event revenue is still nowhere near as good as it was before the pandemic. For 2019, live event revenue finished at $125.6 million, more than twice what WWE made in 2021, meaning there is an avenue for even more revenue in the future.

As far as net profit is concerned, the company saw an increase as well year-to-year, finishing at $180.4 million for 2021, up nearly $50 million from 2020 which finished at $131.8 million.

Other notable notes from this past year include an increase in consumer products revenue, which includes venue merchandising sales and WWE Shop sales. The company generated $101.2 million in consumer products revenue in 2021, up year-to-year from 2020’s $86.1 million.

Given what we know of the current core content rights fees, the NBCUniversal deal to have WWE events on Peacock, the more live events with fans in attendance, there is a lot to look forward to if you’re WWE from a financial perspective. At the current rate, reaching $1 billion in revenue could stop being a goal for the company and become a baseline of what WWE would hope to reach every year.

WWE Projects Big 2022:

For the 2022 calendar year, WWE expects to achieve record revenue margins once again, believing that a full year of events with fans in attendance will not only increase revenue but also increase profits. In addition, WWE is planning to continue its goal of expanding its reach with new ventures and more touring dates.

As such, WWE anticipates a significant increase in its expense base associated with a higher level of activity in the coming year. According to WWE, “as these expenses support the full year return of live event touring, expanded global production, and development of new content, they contribute to higher revenue and profit in the near-term, and strengthen WWE fan engagement, benefiting the value of WWE content and the company’s long-term growth potential.”

“The Company outlines its expectations for 2022, which assume ticketed audiences at the Company’s live events for the full year, and target record revenue and an Adjusted OIBDA range of $360 - $375 million, which would be an all-time record. This range of anticipated performance reflects the continued ramp up of live events, including large-scale international events, and increased monetization of content, partially offset by increased production, content-related, and other expenses. Management believes WWE is well positioned to capitalize on significant future opportunities. In 2022, key initiatives that could have meaningful implications for long-term growth include the licensing of WWE Network in international markets, monetization of new original series, the licensing of Raw second window rights, further progress with sponsorship sales, and the continued execution of WWE’s stadium strategy for premium live events.”

- WWE 2021 Earnings Press Release

Part of the reason WWE projects to do so well financially this year and in the long-term is with the licensing of WWE Network in international markets, monetization of new original series, the licensing of Raw second window rights, further progress with sponsorship sales, and the continued execution of WWE’s stadium strategy for premium live events.

That’s not to mention that WWE still has the current Raw and SmackDown broadcast deals as well as the Peacock deal which has been the catalyst for the company’s current revenue and profit growth in recent years. Although there’s no telling what the next TV rights deals will result in, the current landscape when it comes to live sports and entertainment has the company ecstatic over what it can fetch for when it comes to negotiations.

Return To Live Events With Fans Generating More Revenue:

As expected, WWE returning to tour and holding live events with fans in attendance resulted in a financial boon for the company. This comes with only just the second half of 2021 to work with when it comes to live events with fans (except for WrestleMania 37 which took place in the first half of 2021.

WWE did a combined 86 events in the United States for the second half of 2021, the last time Q3 and Q4 held live events with an audience back in 2019. That’s still less than the 117 events in the United States 2019 held for the second half.

As previously stated in the article, WWE generated $57.8 million in live event revenue, down from 2019’s $125.6 million. Of course, WWE had far less events to work with last year compared to 2019.

In 2019, WWE did 310 events with fans in attendance (260 in the United States and 50 outside of). That’s an average of roughly $405,161 per live event (including large-scale events such as WrestleMania). In 2021, WWE did 101 live events (88 in the United States and 13 outside of). At $57.8 million for 101 events, that average is roughly $572,277 per live event. Had WWE generated this level of revenue with 2019’s touring schedule, that would equate to about $177.4 million for 2021.

Live event touring still has a place in WWE, but given that COVID-19 still being prominent, it’s hard to envision WWE running 310 events this year again or even next year for that matter.

But it doesn’t need to do more than 300 events in a year to reach the level of revenue 2019 created. Even doing 240 events at that $572,277 average mentioned in the last paragraph, its revenue would still surpass that of 2019.

2021 could be looked at as a test to see how many events it can, and should run, while still maximizing profits without needing to go 310 events a year.

WWE’s TV Viewership and Audience Reach on Peacock:

The story on WWE’s declining viewership continues as both Raw and SmackDown were down six and eight percent, respectively. For Raw, the downwards trend has been an ongoing issue for many years, but overall, viewership on cable in primetime has seen an even steeper decline. While Raw was down 6 percent year-to-year, programming from top 25 cable networks was down 22 percent and USA Network viewership was down 18 percent. Raw averaged 1.631 million viewers per episode for 2021, down from the 1.731 million viewers per episode in 2020.

SmackDown is a slightly different tale. After an increase in viewership due to the move from USA Network to FOX a couple of years ago, SmackDown’s viewership is now back to less than two million viewers on average per episode. Primetime programming on FOX, however, is actually up 10 percent year-to-year, while programming from the top four broadcast networks was only down 1 percent. SmackDown averaged 1.932 million viewers per episode for 2021, down from the 2.105 million viewers per episode in 2020.

But that’s the television side of things. Regardless of what WWE feels about the decline in television ratings, it’s hard to envision the company not being excited over the viewership for WWE content on Peacock compared to how it was during the WWE Network days.

During the earnings call, WWE President Nick Khan touted several viewership figures for various pay-per-view events in 2021 compared to 2019, the last full year the WWE Network was available in the United States. Although he did not give exact numbers, he did offer very modest percentages regarding their events:

Khan mentioned the increase in viewership from WWE Network (in 2019) to now, Peacock (2021) and here are some of the notes in what he said:

- Money in the Bank: 2021 show did 25 percent higher than 2019 show

- SummerSlam: 2021 show was more than 30 percent higher than 2019 show

- Extreme Rules: 2021 show was 20 percent higher than 2019

- Saudi Arabia Event: 2021 show was 75 percent higher than 2019 show

- Royal Rumble: 2021 show was almost 45 percent higher than 2020 show, which took place before the pandemic

- Survivor Series: 2021 was almost 25 percent higher than 2021 show

In addition, approximately 3.5 million paid subscribers on Peacock watched WWE content on the platform since the move there from the WWE Network. By comparison, the WWE Network had about 1.1 million subscribers in the United States by the time the Network closed.

Other News & Notes:

  • A while back, WWE spoke about changing up a bit the way it conducts its pay-per-view events, particularly with the plan to do more events in large-scale stadiums for some of its bigger shows. The Royal Rumble and SummerSlam shows are already examples of non-WrestleMania events that are done in stadiums. In addition, some of its biggest international events are also held in stadiums, but there have only been a handful of them in past years, even during a time before COVID-19. During the earnings call, WWE mentioned that there would be two large-scale international events next year, with Khan being quoted in the earnings call as saying, “Why just limit it to two?” Whether that means that the end result is more than two such shows remains to be seen, as COVID could still have a major impact when it comes to international travel. WWE will be going to Saudi Arabia later this month, however, for the Elimination Chamber show.
  • After five straight quarters of WWE’s AVOD viewership and watchtime increasing after every year, 2021 was the year that snapped that streak. For reference, AVOD is defined as ad-supported video on demand. Consumption includes videos viewed on third party (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube) and WWE platforms (WWE.com and WWE App). In terms of AVOD Global Hours Viewed, WWE finished with 307 million hours in 2021 Q4, down from 411 million hours viewed in 2021 Q3. The same can be said with AVOD Global Views, as 2021 Q4 ended at 9.2 billion views, in 2021 Q4, down from 12.8 billion views in 2021 Q3. 4Q21 AVOD consumption impacted by the absence of a premium live event in December and the removal of full matches on YouTube and Facebook
  • With the advent of the Metaverse, WWE is looking at that as yet another opportunity to expand its reach as more people learn about the concept. Stephanie McMahon alluded to its potential and how WWE can take advantage of it during the earnings call.

"We are absolutely exploring the Metaverse as an opportunity for WWE, especially as the theory unfolds that that's really where more and more people are going to go to connect and socialize. WWE is a community-based business and is all about our fans coming together and sharing this experience. We think there are huge opportunities to expand upon that in the Metaverse itself. In terms of our approach, we're doing our due diligence. We're meeting with various partners and learning as much as we can. We don't want to be hasty in this space. That being said, we certainly don't want to be behind, we always like to be slightly ahead of the curve. It is something we are actively involved in and investigating and looking into," Stephanie said.

  • During the earnings call, WWE touted its NIL program that has allowed them to sign several college athletes. With NIL deals flying all over across college sports, WWE hopes that their NIL initiative will allow them to find their next mega star. After all, some of wrestling’s biggest stars over the past 30 years were prominent college athletes. As noted in the earnings call, Goldberg was a former University of Georgia football standout, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson played for the University of Miami, Big E played at the University of Iowa and Roman Reigns played for Georgia Tech. The inaugural WWE NIL class includes a healthy mix of college athletes ranging from football and basketball players to wrestlers as well as track & field athletes.

Tables and graphs provided by WWE. You can follow Carlos Toro on Twitter @CarlosToroMedia.

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