Subhojeet Mukherjee on May 9, 2024
WWE is truly on a hot streak in a way the company has never seen before over the past couple of years and this is especially true for their international Premium Live Events. In that regard, WWE’s new strategy for the international Premium Live Events has been revealed.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer shared insights into WWE’s Premium Live Event plans. He explained that WWE intends to keep marquee events like WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series in the United States and Canada. However, the plan for other events is to host them internationally, like the recent events in France and the upcoming ones in Germany and other global locations.
According to Meltzer, WWE’s approach to marketing has changed now. The focus is no longer on targeting fans for ticket sales, which has historically been a priority. Although WWE continues to succeed with ticket sales, there’s less pressure to do so, given their new business model. If interest in a show wanes, it’s not a big concern because of the consistent revenue streams from site fees and large gates.
Meltzer cited the recent UFC event and the WWE show in Lyon, France, as examples. He noted that the France event drew a $3 million gate and a site fee, even though the public interest, as indicated by Google trends and other metrics, was lower than usual for WWE events.
“The original idea was to keep WrestleMania and Royal Rumble in the United States and Canada, and SummerSlam and Survivor Series probably too. But basically sell most of the other ones all over the world, like they just did with France and they’re gonna do with Germany and other places they’ve got all over the world. That’s the new model.”
“The old idea of marketing to the fans doesn’t matter anymore, it’s cool that they’re successful and selling lots of tickets but there’s no giant pressure to do so, and if/when they get cold it doesn’t matter, they’re not gonna struggle.
“The last UFC show I’m sure did nothing. The last WWE show, the show from France as far as interest levels with the public – got the Google number, got the PPV number, it’s very clear that this show for whatever reason, this show did not have much interest as compared to a normal WWE show.
“It doesn’t matter because they get paid the same, either way, as far as in Lyon, France they did a three million dollar gate and got a site fee. So even if they put on this five match show in the afternoon, obviously as compared to a norm show people are not watching it doesn’t matter because they’re fine anyway.”
In case you were not aware, Saudi Arabia wants to host WrestleMania or The Royal Rumble as well. Obviously, this would be a massive change, as neither of these two events ever took place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Regardless, we’ll have to wait and see whether International Premium Live Events will continue to see as much success in the coming months.
Do you want to see more International Premium Live Events in WWE? Sound off in the comments section below!
May 9, 2024 7:20 am
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