WWE held their 2021 fourth quarter an complete year 2021 earnings call today. Seth Zaslow, the new WWE Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations welcomed everyone to the call and noted that WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Financial and Administrative Officer Frank Riddick were on the call.

Vince McMahon stated that they brought in a considerable increase of revenue over the last year and that they have re-imagined the company, something that they do every month and that their performance speaks for itself and for what they have done long-term. Nick Khan mentioned that a year ago, the company announced that they would license the WWE Network to Peacock and made comparisons between Peacock’s old numbers to their old numbers on the WWE Network, while noting that WWE Money in the Bank 2021 viewership was 20% higher than the previous year, WWE SummerSlam 2021 was 30% higher than 2019, WWE Extreme Rules 2021 was 20% higher than 2019 and that they were up 75% for the most recent show in Saudi Arabia compared to the prior event. Khan also mentioned that WWE Survivor Series was up as well and that they have expanded the audience and viewership with their product and the partnership with Peacock as more fans are watching the marquee WWE events than ever before and said that the marketplace puts more value on their intellectual properties.

Khan mentioned that WWE have over a dozen scripted and unscripted projects sold based on WWE intellectual property that will be announced soon, both domestically and internationally. Khan also put over the new trading card and NFT partnerships and said that there will be an announcement on the NFT marketplace soon and that WWE branded lotteries will be rolling out in multiple States later in the year. Khan put over the recent extension of their deal with Mattel and said that they expect even more growth from this toy license deal. Khan noted that the company got back to work with WWE Day 1 with the belief that a holiday date would drive viewers, attendance and merchandise, noting that the show sold out and was one of the highest viewed events on Peacock ever, while they kicked off the Road to WrestleMania as part of the Royal Rumble in St. Louis, which was the largest merchandise sales ever at a Royal Rumble event, the second-highest attended WWE Royal Rumble event ever, while Peacock viewership was 45% higher than the 2020 WWE Royal Rumble. Khan put over the Bad Bunny and Johnny Knoxville appearances over the past year, including their appearances at the WWE Royal Rumble and thanked them for their work.

Khan mentioned that the WWE Elimination Chamber will take place in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, February 19th and that they could not be more pleased to be getting back to staging major events internationally and that they will have more news on that later this year. Khan put over their new relationship with Disney stemming from their recent deal in Indonesia, while noting that they are an Executive Producer on the ESPN+ series featuring Ronda Rousey. Khan put over WWE 2K22 and Rey Mysterio being chosen as the cover artist and said that they are not shocked by all the recent acquisitions made in the gaming worls and put over how that has happened also in the television and theme park spaces, which he expects to continue. Khan then mentioned the live rights of sports programming, noting that billions have been spent to bring top-tier sports to streaming servies and that it is just a matter of time before Netflix or Apple+ begin to look for partners and that they couldn’t be more optimistic about where they stand as outlets look for partners with first-run live programming.

Stephanie McMahon put over the importance of WWE stars in major sports and pop culture events, noting that Big E starred in the cold open for the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder fight, while Sasha Banks was the start of the ESPN College Football National Championship broadcast. Stephanie noted that Paramount used the WWE to promote Jackass Forever, with the company’s content getting 12 million views on social media, while Johnny Knoxville appeared on major talk shows putting over the WWE product. Stephanie also praised Ronda Rousey, Bad Bunny and Johnny Knoxville for their returns/appearances at the Royal Rumble. Stephanie noted that the Rumble was the highest Peacock app usage to date and put over the company’s partnerships with Door Dash and others as part of the Royal Rumble. Stephanie said that all indications on the next WWE 2K game are very positive and praised the quarterly performance of the WWE Champions mobile game, while reiterating Nick Khan’s statement about the video game acquisitions before noting that the next generation of fans are important to them. Stephanie then discussed the first-ever WWE NIL deals, noting that the company want to offer a platform for college athletes who don’t make it to professional sports, but want to continue their athletic careers and put over the signing of Gable Steveson. Stephanie put over the WWE’s social media power, noting that they have had over 50 billion views across their accounts and put over some of their advertising integrations with Red Notice on Netflix, as well as Pizza Hut. Frank Riddick began to go over the earnings before the Q&A session.

The first caller asked about any renewals of one-time payments for the rights renewals, to which Nick Khan noted that there is nothing yet. The next caller asked about what they hope to achieve this year with the sponsorship side of the company. Stephanie McMahon stated that there is no reason to think that they won’t be making hundreds of millions in that side of the business in future years, noting that they are engaging new revenue streams and utilizing their talent to help build around their intellectual property and brand. The next caller asked about the Disney+ deal in Indonesia and if they could elaborate further as to why it is a one country deal. Nick Khan mentioned that they are doing region-by-region deals as to what partners make the most sense for that region, noting that Disney made the most sense for that region. The next caller asked about the company’s views on the Metaverse and Virtual Reality given how they have extended into physical and digital media in the past. Stephanie McMahon said that they are exploring it for the WWE as they realize that it is a place that people will go to socialize, so that leaves huge opportunities for the WWE and that they are doing their due dilligence and learning as much as they can and that they are actively involved in investigating as they like to be ahead of the curve on things, but that right now, they are doing the work to learn.

The next caller asked about the financial impact of Peacock’s second WWE year. Nick Khan mentioned that they received a significant payment up front in relation to their intellectual property, so they will not have that this year, while revenue can change based on the premium live events and that the deal has an escalation for it, so it will be slightly up this year, but that they will not get the upfront payment that they received at the start of the deal. The next caller asked about whether they expect to hold two large scale international events this year. Nick Khan said that they expect at least two, but that they may not be limited to just those two. The next caller asked about their deal with Hulu, to which Nick Khan mentioned expires this year. The next caller asked about the WWE NIL program and how it compares to taking talent from regional and smaller promotions. Stephanie McMahon said that the WWE offers the athletes more than anyone else because it provides opportunities for those who may not have another path forward athletically, noting that Goldberg and Big E are just several examples of athletes who continued their careers after football with the WWE product. The next caller asked about the WWE RAW second window renewal. Khan said that they feel as good on that as they do on their NBC and FOX deals, as well as their deal on Peacock. The next caller asked about the company’s strategic placement to which Nick Khan said that everyone wants to be in business with those who create good content and that they have a 35 year history of that and thinks that there will be even more buyers in two years compared to now.

The next caller asked if broadcast would be what they purse when the FOX deal comes to an end, or if they would be looking at moving to a streaming service. Nick Khan said that their premium live events are on Peacock and that the regular episodes of WWE RAW and WWE SmackDown are on USA and FOX respectively. Khan said that they still think that their big event programming will be on both and that they won’t discount those buyers, but that they realize that premium dollars are being spent on premium services and that when the WWE Network was launched, they were second after Netflix, perhaps third, but then the marketplace became so cluttered, so it made more sense to partner with others. The final caller asked about the last Saudi Arabia event and whether there were any changes financially compared to the past, to which Nick Khan noted that there were no major changes.