WWE President and CEO Vince McMahon commented on the drop in WWE TV ratings and what he thinks they should do to change the ratings during WWE’s second-quarter 2020 earnings call with investors tonight.
Guggenheim Securities’ Curry Baker opened the investor question-and-answer portion by asking Vince about the recent drop in ratings. Baker acknowledged that COVID-19 has impacted WWE production and the product itself, and asked Vince how concerned he is with the ratings issue and what information WWE officials have about what is causing the decline. He also asked what strategy WWE has to change the ratings in the short term, given the coronavirus and long-term restrictions.
As he has in the past, Vince reiterated how important the audience member is to the WWE product.
“When it comes to ratings, once again, more than any other sport, surely our audience is part of the show,” Vince said. “It is the interaction with the audience that is always a plus. Again, it goes back to the origin of this genre, in terms of ‘yay and boo’. Therefore, the audience is an integral part of our success and our rankings television. Again, because of the interaction or lack of it. “
Vince went on to say that something the company can do to help change ratings includes creating more compelling characters, creating better stories, and creating content that could be out of the ring, which focuses on superstars and their stories.
Despite that, I think we can have more compelling characters, better stories, new characters getting to where we are now and more content that is not necessarily in the ring, but one that focuses on our personalities and their story outside the ring. Vince said.
Stay tuned for more news from the WWE Q2 2020 call. You can click here to see Vince’s comments on Paul Heyman, Triple H and AEW’s ratings.
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