The WWE released an updated Investor Relations Key Business Drivers document today. Added was the initial buy numbers for December's Armageddon Smackdown PPV. As have most PPVs of Fiscal 2006, it did pretty well (slightly less than 290,000 buys). That number is slightly more than the same event did in 2004 & 2003, and a mere 70,000 buys below 2002's event.
For the curious, approximate buy info for events in Fiscal 2006:
SummerSlam: 645,000 Vengeance: 425,000 Survivor Series: 375,000 ECW One Night Stand: 350,000 Backlash: 315,000 Armageddon: 290,000 Great American Bash: 280,000 Judgment Day: 265,000 Unforgiven: 230,000 No Mercy: 225,000 Taboo Tuesday: 205,000
We're heading into the traditional busy period, with New Year's Revolution expected to do fairly well and followed by the typically strong Royal Rumble & WrestleMania events. No Way Out is usually a poor performer (delivering numbers similar to Armageddon in recent years), but possibly may trend upwards as the other events this year have.
In summation: Every PPV this year has either done substantially better than last year's...or negligibly worse. And they're doing more events. They're making more money of PPVs, but some here have mentioned that it's because they're getting into more international markets for PPV and people are possibly buying them because it's a new novelty thing.
DVDs; Blog Calgary Flames: 25-12-5 Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights: 16-15-8
Foreign markets aside, it's time to stop declaring that the WWE is doing horrible business. They're not doing 1998-2000 numbers, but they're still incredibly profitable.
Does it mention whether or not those PPV numbers include streaming Web buys? (and if so, how many of those are they getting vs. the conventional cable buys that are split revenue)?
I always thought that a "This is SportsCenter" spot with WWe guys would be a riot. Of course, this was before the commercials started to suck in general.