During the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Monday, TKO’s Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro talked about the partnership between NBCUniversal, WWE and more.
Shapiro said that both WWE and NBCU are “keen to renew” their deal with Peacock, as the current agreement ends in March 2026.
Shapiro also said that NBCUniversal has been “a crazy good partner” that has made WWE a priority in their growth plan and that WWE has been great for Peacock both for gaining new customers and keeping its current subscribers.
However, Shapiro further said that “it might make sense to move elsewhere if the plan, not just the dollars, makes the best sense for the growth of our brand and the property.”
Shapiro also speculated that it would make sense, however for Netflix to have everything WWE, but was not pitching that idea, but only mentioning it as and idea. He added that a common theme for programmers is they are looking for the big events and not the regular season type show. He closed out that comment with saying that WWE makes noise when they want to.
He did touch on one question that seems to be a source of contention with some, and that is high ticket prices for WWE events and if prices will drop or not. Shaprio went on to say that it is not something worth holding your breath over. He added TKO has “much more to go” on optimizing revenues for their schedule and noting WWE has just got into dynamic pricing by cutting back on their house shows. He closed out the comment by saying adding “scarcity drives demand which gives us more pricing power.”
As it pertains to John Cena’s surprise heel turn at Elimination Chamber, Shaprio said that it certainly had a cultural impact due to the fact that it was featured on ESPN. He then added fans will be amazed at the surprises that will happen at WrestleMania 41.
Other subjects Shapiro talked about was NXT on the CW, UFC and WWE Raw on Netflix.
You can listen to the full audio below, which is courtesy of F4WOnline.
The source for this report is also courtesy of F4WOnline.