WWE Q2 Bussiness Numbers

WWE sent out the following:
WWE® Reports Strong Second-Quarter 2015 Earnings Growth
Second-Quarter 2015 Highlights
* OIBDA of $13.2 million increased $27.8 million from the prior year quarter
* WWE Network total subscribers increased 75% to more than 1.2 million from the second quarter 2014; average paid subscribers increased 31% to approximately 1.2 million from the first quarter 2015
* Tough Enough premiered June 23 on USA Network. The Company’s reality franchises, Tough Enough and Total Divas, have expanded WWE’s weekly television audience by nearly 5 million unique viewers
* WWE is one of the brands that will participate in an ad-supported video test on Facebook that shares revenue with content creators. WWE served more than 440 million video views on Facebook during the quarter
Year-To-Date 2015 Highlights
* Network segment revenue reached a record of $131.0 million on a trailing 12-month basis
* International revenue increased by 38% to $78.6 million through the first six months of 2015
* WWE surpassed 500 million social media followers across all its global platforms, and now ranks 6th on Sprinklr’s Social Business Index, ahead of the NBA, NFL and other media properties
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WWE (NYSE:WWE) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2015. For the quarter, the Company reported net income of $5.1 million, or $0.07 per share, compared to a net loss of $14.5 million, or $0.19 loss per share, in the second quarter last year.
    “Our strong earnings growth was driven primarily by the expansion of WWE Network subscribers, the escalation of our television rights fees as well as strong sales of our franchise video game. For the quarter, our OIBDA surpassed our expectations”
“The performance of WWE Network demonstrates our ability to transform our legacy pay-per-view business into a global subscription business with high growth potential,” said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. “We have made meaningful progress executing our key strategic initiatives, including the achievement of significant international growth and increased engagement across our digital and social media platforms.”
“Our strong earnings growth was driven primarily by the expansion of WWE Network subscribers, the escalation of our television rights fees as well as strong sales of our franchise video game. For the quarter, our OIBDA surpassed our expectations,” added George Barrios, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer. “The ramp-up of WWE Network subscribers, while exhibiting a seasonal pattern, continued to show strong year-over-year growth. Our success in developing WWE Network, maximizing our television rights fees and driving revenue growth from our global markets reinforces our long-term potential.”
Source: WWE Corporate

WWE sent out the following:
WWE Network Update: Second Quarter Highlights
Network segment revenue reached a record of $131.0 million on a trailing 12-month basis that exceeded the Company’s annual pay-per-view revenue in every calendar year through 2014. During the quarter, Network segment revenue increased 57% on a pro-forma basis (excluding the timing impact of WrestleMania in the second quarter 2014)1. Supporting the growth in revenue, WWE Network had 1,156,000 paid subscribers at quarter end, and averaged approximately 1,216,000 paid subscribers during the quarter, representing an 83% increase from the prior year quarter and a 31% increase from the first quarter 2015 average.2 During the quarter, the Company premiered more than 75 hours of original content on WWE Network, increased the network’s comprehensive video-on-demand library to more than 3,300 hours, and continued to broaden its global distribution. From inception through June 30, 2015, WWE Network attracted more than 2.0 million unique subscribers with approximately 61% of these subscribers active as of that date.
* WWE Network’s compelling live and original content, including the Company’s pay-per-views, original series, NXT Live, and other specials continued to drive viewer engagement. Among the more than 75 hours of content that debuted during the quarter, original series, WWE Too Hot for TV (produced with legendary talk show host Jerry Springer), Swerved (produced with Jeff Tremaine, Director of Jackass and Bad Grandpa), and Stone Cold Podcast were among the network’s top programs. Additionally, Beast in the East, a live event special produced in Japan on July 4th, has become the network’s most watched program to date (excluding pay-per-views).
* The Company continued to broaden the global distribution of WWE Network, which was made available in Italy and Malaysia in July, 2015. At quarter-end, WWE Network had approximately 217,000 international subscribers2.
* During the quarter, 90% of subscribers accessed WWE Network at least once per month. Consumer research indicates that 91% of subscribers are satisfied with WWE Network.
WWE Network Update: Future Plans
To grow WWE Network, the Company is executing a five-part strategy, including creating new content, implementing high impact customer acquisition and retention programs, introducing new features, expanding distribution platforms, and entering new geographies. Over the remainder of 2015, the Company is focused on expanding the network’s line-up of compelling original content as a critical element of this strategy.
Programming: For the remainder of 2015, the Company expects to add approximately 180 hours of original content to the network’s featured programming. Exciting original programming coming to the network includes a reality series following the stars of NXT as they strive to make WWE’s main roster, a new series Table for 3 that gives viewers a seat at the table with our Superstars and Divas, a studio show highlighting current events in the world of WWE and beyond, and new episodes of WWE 24, The WWE List, and Stone Cold Podcast, as well as teasers of Camp WWE, an animated adult series premiering in 2016. In addition, the Company plans to expand WWE Network’s robust video-on-demand library, which currently has more than 3,300 hours of content. Themed programming collections to be added to this library include The Raw Attitude Era Part 2: Austin/McMahon, WCW Nitro: Accelerating the War, and The 20th Anniversary of Monday Nitro.
Acquisition & Retention: Based on the successful execution of the network’s free trial promotions, a rolling one-month free trial program was initiated in July and marks the fourth consecutive month and the fifth month this year that the Company has implemented a free trial offering. During the second quarter, the Company enhanced the network’s “watch list” technology, providing the ability to add new programs to subscribers’ watch lists from email notifications. The Company plans to continue utilizing this capability in its subscriber communications. The Company also plans to leverage its sizeable social media and digital assets, such as video sampling on Facebook and WWE.com, to target and acquire new subscribers. To facilitate network subscriptions, the Company plans to introduce a three-month subscription card at retail, enabling a “no credit card required” payment option.
Features/Distribution: Other important elements of the Company’s network strategy include improving the user experience and content discovery across devices and continuing to expand distribution platforms. Over the coming months, the Company will continue to improve the user experience by enhancing the network’s search functionality, adding the ability to organize content as themed “collections” and allowing non-subscribers the ability to explore the breadth and depth of programs available on the service.
Geographies: The Company continues to develop plans for geographic expansion to India, China, Germany, Japan, and Thailand.
Source: WWE Corporate
As part of WWE's Q2 2015 earnings report released on Thursday, the following are the buyrates for WWE PPVs in the second quarter of 2015.
* WWE Extreme Rules 4/26/15 (headlined by Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton) - 56,000 buys (down from 108,000 buys in 2014)
* WWE Payback 5/17/15 (headlined by Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns) - 54,000 buys (down from 67,000 buys in 2014)
* WWE Money in the Bank 6/14/15 (headlined by Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose) - 57,000 buys (down from 122,000 buys in 2014)