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WWE News
WWE News: WWE executive explains the decision to change PPV names Jul 4, 2009 - 11:18:23 AM
WWE recently changed the names of several annual PPVs because they felt the titles were stale. Titles like "Unforgiven" and "No Mercy" have been used for ten years. WWE decided to shake things up to hopefully draw more PPV buys after losing revenue in recent years.
"We've been doing these PPVs for a few years and we felt that some of the PPVs were a little flat in terms of what we wanted the titles to project, so we looked to see which ones we can rename," WWE executive Peter Clifford told Multichannel News.
Clifford said they want the titles to "better reflect" ongoing WWE storylines. He suggested WWE is considering dropping some of the "off-brand" PPVs to maximize PPV revenue.
WWE recently completed a stretch of having a PPV every-three-weeks starting with the Backlash PPV at the end of April and ending with The Bash PPV at the end of June. It's difficult to keep asking WWE viewers to spend $40+ tax every three weeks.
Clifford said they're trying to involve their fans int the product by offering more video features on cable systems to hype PPVs, leading to more buys. Or, in other words, WWE fans are like sheep who will do whatever WWE tells them to do.
"One of the great things about the WWE is that our fanbase moves wherever we tell them to go," he said. "By moving our fans to the operators's various platforms for our bigger shows, we're providing a product that is designed to both promote the upcoming PPV and to drive incremental revenue for our affiliates."
Overall, Clifford said WWE cut back its expectations for PPV buys during the recent economic downturn. He said WWE is on target to meet revenue goals after the changes.
"We have a long history of looking at our PPV events and we have a pretty good idea of where they are going to land," he said. "We took into account the economy and cut back our expectations a bit, so we’re pretty much on budget, which is a good thing for us."
Link:Multichannel News story.
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