WWE held their 2015 first quarter earnings call earlier today. Michael Weiss opened the call and noted that Vince McMahon and George Barrios were on the line. It was noted that WrestleMania 31 fell into the first quarter as opposed to WrestleMania 30 last year that fit into the second quarter.

Vince said that the WWE were proud to announce that they had hit record breaking revenue for the quarter and touted that WrestleMania 31 was the highest grossing event in company history, while Total Divas was E’s number one show in its third season as The Kardashians were on hiatus. Vince commented on the WWE Network breaking 1.3 million subscribers and pushed the new content, mentioning that all the new series will be debuting soon. Vince commented on the WWE SmackDown move to the USA Network next year and said that he expects that will increased viewership. Vince also put over the return of WWE Tough Enough and the current online videos, some of which he called ridiculous and said that they are the show before the show. George Barrios took over the call and read a prepared statement and broke down the company’s earnings before going into the Q&A session of the call.

The first caller talked up the first quarter and asked about the background of the revenues raising, to which Barrios said that the videogame sales performed well and WrestleMania 31 exceeded their expectations, while some costs were able to be moved back until the second quarter, which also helped them. The next question asked was about seasonality in the consumer products business. Barrios said that they recognize money from the holiday season in the first quarter of the year, so there will be a drop from that in the second quarter.

The next question asked was about additional platforms for the WWE Network. Barrios noted that they continue to add additional platforms for the WWE Network, stating that they are looking at Chromecast, Android TV and other means and that they have to look at the long-term viability of each platform before they put money into the development. The next question asked about adding investment to create new content with names such as Seth Green and Jerry Springer. Barrios said that they spent $115 million last year across the board on the WWE Network and should be within 10% of that this year. The next question asked about advertising deals, to which Barrios noted that they are going to continue to evolve relationships with companies such as the one they have with Paramount to promote the new Terminator: Genisys movie.

The next question asked whether WWE wanted to go back to a tiered pricing structure since they have different content. Vince said that they are a company that can adapt to things quickly, but they aren’t currently pricing their pay-per-view events differently and said that while it could happen down the line, it isn’t something that they are looking into. The next question asked how the social media interactions help the economic side of things, to which Vince said that it’s a land grab out there and that it is important to grab as much as you can and said that they are a hub that can attract fans of all sort of forms of entertainment and that it is important to marry and integrate social media to engage the audience and it’s not just about a TV rating, but about reaching out to engage the audience and immerse them.

The next question asked about the demographics of the fanbase, to which Barrios said that they see it’s skewing number and that’s one of the reasons why they push the social media side of things, because that is where the millennials are. The next question asked about the new TV rights deals to which Barrios said that by 2018, they will be $100 million more than in 2014, but they haven’t brown down how it is broken down and said that in the first quarter, they have additional episodes of Total Divas in comparison to other quarters, so that is a difference and they don’t get that bump over every quarter and since the company adapts to new ideas quickly, it is hard to give guidance on how that will ebb and flow.

The next question asked about the quarter 1 rise and how it will change. Barrios said that there are season elements, such as licensing which will be down after the holidays and more expensive TV tapings due to the European tour. The next question asked about the sources of churn when it comes to the WWE Network. Barrios said that he doesn’t know if they have learned about the sources of it and they work on different ways to market it and advertise it and said that they had trained the audience for a long time to pick and choose events and they have broken that with a lot of subscribers, but they are still working on it and it’s about the content that they provide, as well as marketing. The next few questions were quick, to which it was noted that they wouldn’t be releasing information on how many subscribers for WrestleMania 30 were retained for WrestleMania 31 and that there are not a lot of countries left to launch the WWE Network in and they are working on deals for those areas, but it is hard to predict when that will be and that they expect plans to be announced over the next 18 months.

The next question asked about overlapping information from YouTube subscribers to WWE live event ticket buyers, to WWE Network subscribers and more. Barrios said that they are matching those up and are building algorithms to hopefully map those consumers. The next question asked about the relationship of social media engagement and WWE Network subscribers. Barrios said that social media is a way to engage people and reach them where they are spending their time and they are only scratching the surface of that. The next question asked about the potential of a cable distribution deal domestically after the Hulu and Netflix deals with Cablevision. Barrios said that it is interesting to see how much the world has changed since they launched the WWE Network and that they are open to discussions and said that the WWE Network could take different forms as it makes sense.

The next question asked about working with specific regional providers for places such as China. Barrios said that their strategy in China has been the same as their strategy around the world and that is to establish a TV presence and then go into the region and said that it has been a slow process, but they are really looking into re-evaluating their approach to see if they can move things forward in a faster way. The next question asked if the WWE had ways to prevent users from turning their Network subscriptions off in April and then signing up in May for free. Barrios said that they have the tools to manage that, but it is never a perfect process. Michael Weiss took back over the call and wrapped things up, thanking people for their time.