The latest financial figures for WWE Q3 2017 were reported on Thursday morning, including the latest figure for paid WWE Network subscribers and early projections going forward.
Here is a breakdown of the figures provided this morning
* Revenue increased to $186.4 million (14% overall increase).
* Operating income was $33.9 million. Adjusted OIBDA reached $40.4 million in what was an “all-time record quarter” according to WWE.
* As reported earlier, the WWE Network paid subscriber count now sits at 1.52 million. This is an increase from 1.46 million figured reported last year in Q3 2016.
* WWE Network subscriber counts for Q4 2017 are projected to be 1.47 million.
* The company launched the WWE Network in China this quarter with PPTV.
* Weekly TV shows in Mexico and Central America were also launched this quarter.
* Digital video views currently sit at 14.2 billion through the first nine months of 2017. This represents a 23% increase from last year. Social media engagements are also up 5% from last year (touted as 912 million so far this year).
* NBC Universal secured 20 new advertisers for WWE programming in the 2017-2018 upfront. 70 have been added over the past three years, reaching a total of 200.
* WWE’s TV rights fees with the USA Network (NBC Universal) was addressed in the press release, noting the current deal expires as of September 30, 2019. TV deals in the UK and India will expire on December 31, 2019. WWE noted they planned to announce a plan for future distribution in the United States between May and September 2018 and by year-end regarding current TV rights deals internationally. Negotiations begin next year.
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon was quoted about the results in the release.
“We are pleased with our continued success in growing and engaging a large, global audience across multiple platforms. The increased production of original content, our focus on localization and the further development of a diverse talent base contributed to that important achievement, reinforcing the significant scale and power of our brands.”