WWE sent out the following:
WWE® Reports Strong Third-Quarter 2015 Earnings Growth
Third-Quarter 2015 Financial Highlights
* OIBDA of $23.4 million increased $20.7 million from the prior year quarter
Total international revenue increased by 43% to $119.0 million through the first nine months of 2015
* WWE Network total subscribers increased 79% to more than 1.3 million from the third quarter 2014; paid subscribers increased 7% to more than 1.2 million from the second quarter 2015
* Network segment revenue reached a record of $145.8 million on a trailing 12-month basis
Third-Quarter 2015 Business Highlights
* WWE Network premiered more than 85 hours of original content including the network’s highly rated programs, Beast in the East, NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, Swerved and Stone Cold Podcast
* SummerSlam, Raw and NXT delivered 3 consecutive sell-out events at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (August 22 – 24)
* 37 new advertisers were secured for WWE programming following NBCUniversal’s Upfront
* WWE was the most-viewed channel on YouTube in August ranking above other popular channels such as BuzzFeed and Taylor Swift; WWE content (on and off-channel) garnered close to 7 billion views on a trailing twelve month basis
* WWE exceeded 660 million social media engagements to-date in 2015 and continued to rank 6th on Sprinklr’s Social Business Index, ahead of the NBA, NFL and other media properties
October 29, 2015 08:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WWE (NYSE:WWE) today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2015. For the quarter, the Company reported net income of $10.4 million, or $0.14 per share, compared to a net loss of $5.9 million, or $0.08 loss per share, in the third quarter last year.
“During the quarter, we made significant progress on the growth of our global subscription service, WWE Network,” said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. “We also continued to strengthen our talent base, achieved significant international growth and increased engagement across our digital and social media platforms. Over the next year, we expect to leverage our brand and content initiatives to further enhance engagement, promote network subscription, and maximize our long-term earnings growth.”
George Barrios, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, added “Our solid earnings growth for the quarter was driven primarily by the increase in WWE Network subscribers, the escalation of our television rights fees, as well as higher effective ticket prices at our live events. Key metrics, such as the record attendance at our SummerSlam events, viewership of our original content, and social media presence demonstrate the increasing strength of our WWE brands, which are the foundation of our long-term growth.”