WWE released its 10-K report for 2019 and this 97-page document also contains lots of intriguing business notes on the company.
Here are some highlights to isolate from the information provided:
*The WWE Network has almost 11,000 hours of content on it with over 340 hours of original content produced in 2019
*As of December 31st, the network had 1,391,000 paid subscribers compared to 1,528,1000 as of December 31, 2018. They averaged 1,550,000 paid subscribers for the year, down from an average 1,651,800 paid subs in 2018.
*In 2019, they staged 260 live events in North America with an average ticket price of $64.21 with 1.3 million fans attending for an average of 5,000 per show. This doesn’t include NXT.
*They ran 50 international shows with 226,000 fans attending and an average ticket price of $81.18 and an average of 4,520 people per show
*NXT held 186 shows with 138,800 tickets sold for an average of 746 per show and an average ticket price of $41.74. In 2018, they drew 147,000 to 183 events for an average of 803 per show and a ticket price of $43.85.
*On WWE Shop, they processed 619,700 orders compared to 786,800 in 2018
*In total, there are approximately 300 performers under contract, since they are independent contractors they are not included in their employee count, which is listed at 960 as of February 2020 and doesn’t included contracted personnel for television production
*The revenue generated for 2019 was $960,400,000 with operating income of $116,500,000 and net income of $77,100,00. In 2018, revenues were $930,200,000 with an operating income of $114.5 million and a net income of $99.6 million.
*On the increase in their media division from $683.4 million in 2018 to $743.1 million:
This increase was primarily driven by increased Media revenues of $59.7 million, which includes $78.8 million in incremental revenues associated with the October 2019 renewal of our key domestic distribution agreements of our flagship programs, Raw and SmackDown, as well as the contractual escalations associated with our prior distribution agreements, partially offset by a decrease of $14.7 million resulting from a 6% decline in average paid subscribers on WWE Network. The increase in Media revenues was partially offset by a decline of $18.6 million in Live Events revenues primarily due to the staging of 56 fewer events and lower average attendance per event, coupled with a $10.9 million reduction in Consumer Products revenues due to fewer orders on our eCommerce platforms and lower merchandise sales resulting from fewer events.
*On the core content rights fees, the following line did acknowledge revenue derived from the distribution of NXT, which began airing on the USA Network in September:
Core content rights fees consist primarily of licensing revenues earned from the distribution of our flagship programs, Raw and SmackDown, as well as our NXT programming, through global broadcast, pay television and digital platforms.
Media revenues increased by $59.7 million, or 9, in 2019 as compared to 2018. Core content rights fees increased by $78.8 million, or 29%, driven by the October 2019 renewal of the key domestic distribution agreements of our flagship programs, Raw and SmackDown, coupled with the contractual escalations associated with our prior distribution agreements. This increase was partially offset by a decline in Network revenues, which includes revenues generated by WWE Network subscriptions and pay-per-view, of $14.7 million, or 7%, primarily due to a decline in average paid subscribers
*Non-live event programming spending was $26.4 million including the production of season nine of Total Divas, season two of Miz & Mrs., and season five of Total Bellas. They expected to spend $25-35 million in 2020 on non-live event programming.
