7 Things We Learned From WWE's Q3 Earnings Conference Call
2. They Still Don't Want To Talk About Ratings
There's no escaping the fact that WWE's television ratings are in the doldrums. It was reported back in June that the company's audience had dropped 20% in 12 months, and their average viewership declines every year, with more and more fans opting to consume Raw and SmackDown via other methods, or tuning out entirely. The decline is chronic, and WWE can't run away from it.
That doesn't stop them from trying, though.
As usual, this conference call was full of misdirection and avoidance. Barrios was specifically asked about the topic, and immediately swerved discussing how they'd affected WWE's business by speaking on how well the company are performing on social media. He's right (engagements are up 5% on the previous year), but television is still WWE's most lucrative revenue stream, accounting for 35% of their income in Q3. Barrios seems confident that their ever-increasing social media reach will eventually compensate for any loss in viewers, but that's a lot of money to recoup.
WWE have mitigated this by expanding their sponsorship pool, and there may come a day when Facebook and Twitter become more than brand development tools for the company. For now, though, Barrios' words reek of corporate spin.