Early WM buyrate news....not good!!

[Beans]

I've read that people are using the figure released by WWE of how much world-wide revenue they've taken in buys for Wrestlemania this year of $43m, to guesstimate that the total number of domestic buys (US for those paying attention) of LESS than 500,000.

Now of course with the price differing between territory to territory and the price difference in the US between the standard broadcast and HD at this stage it's very difficult to break down exactly how that $43m figure for PPV revenues was reached and indeed at this stage if that figure has been reached, but with early estimates from WWE usually more likely to over-estimate performance than understate, I think it's fair to assume that $43m is pretty much the maximum that we're talking about in terms of collected ppv revenue for the event. Of course at the moment though nothing is set in stone.

But according to Figure Four Weekly's publication the number could suggest domestic US buys for the event of under 500,000. I have seen other sources, notably the Wrestling Observer who I believe gave a preliminary early estimation which stated that beating 600,000 domestic buys would be a "challenge" based on current business trends alone, I don't believe the $43m figure was known of at time of publication of that article.

If it is UNDER 500,000 buys (my own guesstimate 550,000 or there abouts) for domestic purchase of the PPV - regardless of recession, regardless of anything else that is a shockingly disappointing number isn't it in comparison to what WM has recently done historically and be one of the worst Mania's in terms of domestic buys since the low-period of the mid 90's.

Oh and I changed the title as the old one was rubbish.

[Robbymac]

wow, if this turns out to be true I'll gladly do what no one in the history of the internet has ever done...

Admit I was wrong.

[Bub (BLM)]

Wow. It's as if people knew the main event was going to suck ass beforehand.

[The Genesis of KoOS]

[edgehead]

I wonder how much blast zones, etc. have had an effect. Plus $55 is not exactly cheap.

[Beans]

Apr 14, 2009 15:36:14 GMT -5 edgehead said:

I wonder how much blast zones, etc. have had an effect. Plus $55 is not exactly cheap.

What's a blast zone?

[The Genesis of KoOS]

Apr 14, 2009 15:37:57 GMT -5 Beans said:

Apr 14, 2009 15:36:14 GMT -5 edgehead said:

I wonder how much blast zones, etc. have had an effect. Plus $55 is not exactly cheap.

What's a blast zone?

A bar or restaurant that shows PPVs.

[Beans]

Apr 14, 2009 15:38:31 GMT -5 The Genesis of KoOS said:

Apr 14, 2009 15:37:57 GMT -5 Beans said:

What's a blast zone?

A bar or restaurant that shows PPVs.

Oh okay.

[Ryushinku]

Wrestlemania XIX (2003) - 563,000 buys.

I reckon they'll want to top that at least.

After that it would be Wrestlemania XIII (1997) with a paltry 308,000.

[nt86]

Wow. I know there's a recession but WWE hasn't been doing too badly at all from what I thought. How many buys did this year's Royal Rumble do, just out of curiosity?

[Ryushinku]

445,000.
23% down on last year.

[Lancers]

Needed more trendy celebrities. 20% of the Pussycat Dolls isn't enough.

[Beans]

Point I was just making in another thread...of course it's only one factor but WWE and WM's seemed to be doing decent business recent years with Cena as the primary focus. Suddenly now he's effectively a mid-carder (with his belt obviously being deemed less valuable than HHH's) and it's you-know-who back as the focus of the show.

[Marvelously Mediocre]

Apr 14, 2009 15:55:10 GMT -5 Beans said:

Point I was just making in another thread...of course it's only one factor but WWE and WM's seemed to be doing decent business recent years with Cena as the primary focus. Suddenly now he's effectively a mid-carder (with his belt obviously being deemed less valuable than HHH's) and it's you-know-who back as the focus of the show.

don't worry next year Miz will be in the ME.

[thuschongswing]

I personally would lay a bit of the blame on black market streaming, which has pretty much taken a chunk out of the PPV business in general.

[Deleted]

I knew that the Wrestlemania buyrate would be low. Firstly, the economic climate, and secondly, the two main events had essentially been done before. Its the reason why they were advertising it to death the last week before the event (ECW and Smackdown especially). It would've been better if they put on proper shows and just had a few adverts throughout instead of missing golden opportunities to add more heat to the feuds by overloading the viewer with commercials.

[Hiroshi Hase]

I'm a bit surprised, even if the main events were hardly epic, I figured that it's WM would sell on its own.

[Beans]

Given that the Cena vs Orton storyline in 2007 performed very well as the focus of the show for the Summerslam PPV that year I'm surprised they didn't use it for the main event this year. Last year would have been too-soon after the initial summer feud but I for one was suprised they decided to go with HHH/Orton rather than Cena/Orton.

[domrep]

It's just domestic buys though. I'm sure with international buys, it'd probably be closer to 1 million.

[CM Hunk Golden]

Apr 14, 2009 15:58:12 GMT -5 thuschongswing said:

I personally would lay a bit of the blame on black market streaming, which has pretty much taken a chunk out of the PPV business in general.

I agree with this, some people don't take this into account and straight blame the bad economy. Lots of people saw Wrestlemania but didn't pay for it.