The WWE has taken some big financial hits in 2020, but they announced o Thursday (April 23) that their revenue rose 60% to $291 million in 2020’s first quarter. This was mainly due to new distribution deals in India and Germany, among an increase in fees from Fox and NBC Universal. It led to Vince McMahon saying the WWE was “largely Unimpacted” by the coronavirus pandemic.
(Special thanks to highlighthollywood.com linked above for the quote)
“Our first-quarter financial performance was strong and largely unimpacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Now we are in the midst of unprecedented times, which require us to be especially nimble, creative, and efficient in order to ensure the long-term value of WWE. We are taking precautions to protect the health and safety of our performers and staff as we produce content in new ways, engage fans with a much-needed diversion and operate effectively in this evolving environment.” – WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.
There’s nothing new about a CEO sounding optimistic in regards to their company, but it’s a fine line and they’re tightening their belts.
Cutting Costs
It appears with things already being rough before the pandemic that the WWE is going to continue cutting costs. They fired 40% of their staff (talent, producers, writers, referees, etc), most likely to pay for the loss of the XFL.
One of those individuals was Mike Chioda, who worked with the company for thirty years. He released his statement on Twitter after being released:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_USdPMpZha/
They had already cut back on live events (house shows) prior to the pandemic, and it appears the WWE will most likely stop running live even shows (non-televised house shows) after the pandemic ends. This could simply be because no one knows what the future holds, so we’ll have to wait and see how true this turns out.
Thinking outside the box
McMahon did that after the success of the Boneyard Match and Firefly Funhouse matches at WrestleMania, the WWE will do more cinematic-style matches in the future.
This is something that’s always been there but not to this extent. It’ll give us a chance to see our favorites I action like they’d be in a movie and really ramp up the tension, as well as changing the pace of what’s currently going on.
This could be why they had a record number of subscribers to the WWE Network (a reported 2.1 million on April 6) for WrestleMania 36.
Most likely, this was more out of curiosity for the above mentioned matches than anything. The question is, will they be able to keep them or will they lose them because their product hasn’t been good and they ignore what fans want?
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
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