WWE CONFERENCE CALL – McMahon addresses sagging TV ratings & WWE’s standing with NBCU; will NXT land on U.S. TV?

During Thursday’s quarterly conference call with investors, WWE CEO Vince McMahon was asked to address the yearly decline in TV ratings for top programming Raw and Smackdown in 2015.

McMahon said, “Ours are down, but not as much as networks in general that we’re on.” McMahon added that not as many people are watching television as before, for any number of reasons (e.g. cord-cutting).

McMahon then stressed that WWE is taking a “New Media” approach to looking at TV Ratings as part of the “total ecosystem” of content consumption along with YouTube views and other digital methods of watching WWE programming.

“It’s not just about TV ratings,” McMahon said of WWE’s internal view. “We’re looking at total ecosystem. We used to live and die by TV Ratings in Old Media.”

McMahon placed emphasis on the overall environment, but did not address WWE’s role in contributing, such as Creative issues or the effect of three-hour Raws on the roster and viewers.

– Later in the conference call, McMahon was asked how their TV partner NBC Universal views WWE content and sagging TV ratings fresh off a new long-term content deal. McMahon replied by stressing WWE’s live (Raw) or semi-live (Smackdown) programming being a huge asset.

“One thing from a NBCU standpoint is, generally speaking, we’re live programming. That’s tremendous value. We’re going to be even more valuable going forward,” McMahon said before stressing WWE’s “total ecosystem” internal view. “We’re poised to take advantage not just in terms of promotion, but a financial standpoint. As we continue on, we’ll be more and more valuable to everyone.”

– Another question during the conference call was whether there is an inverse relationship between sagging TV ratings and increased WWE Network consumption.

Financial executive George Barrios did not sound convinced about the two being lumped together in that comparison. Barrios said WWE looks at “the whole ecosystem” of content consumption and how engaged the audience is across the board. “When everything works well, it works together,” he said.

Overall, WWE does not see a situation where one week’s TV rating going up or down then has an effect on Network subscriber levels.

– One of the keys for WWE will be deciding which content goes where (traditional TV, WWE Network, or digital platforms). This led to a question about whether WWE should license their popular NXT Network show on U.S. TV.

Barrios said they have a “great problem” of trying to decide where their content should go. He lumped NXT with other Network-related content as part of the decision-making process on whether to keep things where they are or move shows somewhere else.

Barrios noted NXT is licensed on main television in some international markets, so they are flexible when it comes to NXT, but there are currently no plans to move NXT from where it currently is on WWE Network.