WWE's Pay-Per-View Biz Is Up 5% For The Year

World Wrestling Entertainment, which will produce 13 pay-per-view specials this year, including this weekend's WrestleMania, its biggest event, had been hit hard by consumers opting to seek out free entertainment rather than spend $45 for a three-hour show.

But that's reversed over the past three months, with WWE's pay-per-view biz up 5% for the year. It had already enjoyed a significant increase in sales during the fourth quarter, when three shows sold 85,000 more buys than the previous year. A fourth, "Survivor Series," fell off by 84,000, however.

Still that's encouraging news for WWE, which generates 18% of its annual business from PPV sales, and earned $11 million less from PPV sales in 2009 than in '08. WWE usually ranks behind HBO and UFC in PPV buys. What's helped is not only the economy, but a change in its lineup of PPV specials, WWE executives told Daily Variety.

It retooled many of its events and created themes that aimed to help them stand out and appeal to WWE's changing audience, which includes more women (around 36%) and kids (20% are under 18 years old) now that its weekly TV shows are PG. Its PPVS are also offered by more carriers overseas, including five in Mexico, increasing international audiences, who preferred more high-concept events...More?

source: variety.com