I wonder how much business WWF and WCW lost to black boxes in the 90s. Yeah, I'd be very curious if there was any credible academic estimates done regarding this. http://indiana.edu/~telecom/people/facu ... acy_05.pdf Quote: The National Cable Television Association (NCTA) claims losses of $6.6 billion in the U.S. from theft of basic and premium services as of 2000,or about 17% of total U.S. industry revenues in that year.11 DBS suppliers do not appear to make an official claim of their losses from piracy, and estimates vary. The Carmel Group estimated DBS losses of about 4.6% of total industry revenues in 2002.12 A trade publication, Satellite Business News, estimated losses of $300 million, or about 3% of total revenues, in 2001.13 A 2002 article in USA Today stated there were one to three million illegal DBS subscribers in the US, or between about 5% and 16% of total legal subscribers. I also found this amazing tidbit: (page 9) Quote: . In 1993, for example, Time Warner’s Staten Island cable system offered a free T-shirt to subscribers during a PPV boxing match, but all legitimate boxes were programmed to scramble the ad. Thus, only those receiving the match illegally could see the ad. Four hundred people who responded to the ad were determined to have been receiving the signal without paying. In other cases, electronic bullets have been used to actually disable illegal boxes. It seems like illegal box usage greatly diminished in the 2000s. The NCTA survey in 2004 noted that, "In addition, the theft rate for premium services decreased dramatically from 9.5% in 2000 to 2.15% in 2004." http://i.ncta.com/ncta_com/PDFs/NCTA-20 ... esults.ppt It's amazing to me how big the Wrestling boom was that there could be this much PPV competition, and yet, WWE had it's biggest PPV year ever.  [I've down a bunch of smoothing to account for WWE change in fiscal year.] Really gives you a perspective why they've considered ditching all PPVs EXCEPT Wrestlemania. Here's a look on a Calendar Year (Jan-Dec) basis:  (1998 is estimated based on FY 1998, 5/97 to 4/98, which was $43.9M and FY 1999, 5/98 to 4/99 was $81.0M). On a calendar basis, the four biggest years for WWE PPV were 2000, 2001, 2002 and 1999. Combined, that was over $435M in PPV revenue (which is essentially what it takes five years to earn now). The Fifth biggest year was 2007 ($94.3M) which of course was Hair vs Hair - Trump vs McMahon. One perspective is that they made more in PPV Profit in FY 2001 (4/00 to 5/01) - $86.6M than they did make in PPV Revenue any single year 2009 through 2012 (Jan-Dec).  WWE Worldwide PPVs buys from 2004 to 2011 date   event   Total 7/27/2003   Vengeance    322 8/24/2003   Summerslam    415 9/21/2003   Unforgiven    280 10/19/2003   No Mercy    240 10/31/2003   Prior Events    285 11/16/2003   Survivor Series    398 12/14/2003   Armageddon    217 1/10/2004   Prior Events    168 1/25/2004   Royal Rumble    582 2/15/2004   No Way Out    266 3/14/2004   Wrestlemania    886 4/18/2004   Backlash    290 5/1/2004   Prior Events    378 5/16/2004   Judgment Day    220 6/13/2004   Bad Blood    264 6/27/2004   The Bash    233 7/11/2004   Vengeance    232 7/31/2004   Prior Events    173 8/15/2004   Summerslam    387 9/12/2004   Unforgiven    243 10/3/2004   No Mercy    193 10/19/2004   Taboo Tuesday    174 10/31/2004   Prior Events    135 11/14/2004   Survivor Series    373 12/12/2004   Armageddon    242 1/9/2005   New Year's Revolution    275 1/10/2005   Prior Events    153 1/30/2005   Royal Rumble    564 2/20/2005   No Way Out    239 4/3/2005   Wrestlemania    983 4/30/2005   Prior Events    198 5/1/2005   Backlash    308 5/22/2005   Judgment Day    266 6/12/2005   One Night Stand    333 6/26/2005   Vengeance    429 7/24/2005   The Bash    279 7/31/2005   Prior Events    115 8/21/2005   Summerslam    634 9/18/2005   Unforgiven    240 10/9/2005   No Mercy    224 10/31/2005   Prior Events    312 11/1/2005   Taboo Tuesday    207 11/27/2005   Survivor Series    375 12/18/2005   Armageddon    280 12/31/2005   Prior Events    210 1/8/2006   New Year's Revolution    294 1/10/2006   Prior Events    201 1/29/2006   Royal Rumble    548 2/19/2006   No Way Out    219 3/31/2006   Prior Events    122 4/2/2006   Wrestlemania    958 4/30/2006   Backlash    213 5/1/2006   Prior Events    215 5/21/2006   Judgment Day    238 6/11/2006   One Night Stand    294 6/25/2006   Vengeance    339 6/30/2006   Prior Events    185 7/23/2006   The Bash    227 7/31/2006   Prior Events    166 8/20/2006   Summerslam    529 9/17/2006   Unforgiven    289 9/30/2006   Prior Events    81 10/8/2006   No Mercy    197 10/31/2006   Prior Events    87 11/5/2006   Cyber Sunday    228 11/26/2006   Survivor Series    383 12/3/2006   December to Dismember    90 12/17/2006   Armageddon    239 12/31/2006   Prior Events    124 1/7/2007   New Year's Revolution    220 1/28/2007   Royal Rumble    491 2/18/2007   No Way Out    218 3/31/2007   Prior Events    (28) 4/1/2007   Wrestlemania    1,188 4/29/2007   Backlash    194 5/20/2007   Judgment Day    242 6/3/2007   One Night Stand    186 6/24/2007   Vengeance    243 6/30/2007   Prior Events    51 7/22/2007   The Bash    229 8/26/2007   Summerslam    537 9/16/2007   Unforgiven    210 9/30/2007   Prior Events    87 10/7/2007   No Mercy    271 10/28/2007   Cyber Sunday    194 11/18/2007   Survivor Series    341 12/16/2007   Armageddon    237 12/31/2007   Prior Events    107 1/27/2008   Royal Rumble    533 2/17/2008   No Way Out    329 3/30/2008   Wrestlemania    1,058 3/31/2008   Prior Events    113 4/27/2008   Backlash    200 5/18/2008   Judgment Day    252 6/1/2008   One Night Stand    194 6/29/2008   Night of Champions    273 6/30/2008   Prior Events    144 7/20/2008   The Bash    196 8/17/2008   Summerslam    477 9/7/2008   Unforgiven    211 9/30/2008   Prior Events    42 10/5/2008   No Mercy    261 10/26/2008   Cyber Sunday    153 11/23/2008   Survivor Series    319 12/14/2008   Armageddon    193 12/31/2008   Prior Events    86 1/25/2009   Royal Rumble    450 2/15/2009   No Way Out    272 3/31/2009   Prior Events    96 4/5/2009   Wrestlemania    960 4/26/2009   Backlash    182 5/17/2009   Judgment Day    228 6/7/2009   Extreme Rules    213 6/28/2009   The Bash    178 6/30/2009   Prior Events    58 7/26/2009   Night of Champions    267 8/23/2009   Summerslam    369 9/13/2009   Breaking Point    169 9/30/2009   Prior Events    31 10/4/2009   Hell in a Cell    283 10/25/2009   Bragging Rights    181 11/22/2009   Survivor Series    235 12/13/2009   TLC    228 12/31/2009   Prior Events    90 1/31/2010   Royal Rumble    462 2/21/2010   Elimination Chamber    285 3/28/2010   Wrestlemania    885 3/31/2010   Prior Events    (40) 4/25/2010   Extreme Rules    182 5/23/2010   Over the Limit    197 6/20/2010   Fatal 4 Way    143 6/30/2010   Prior Events    10 7/18/2010   Money in the Bank    165 8/15/2010   Summerslam    350 9/19/2010   Night of Champions    165 9/30/2010   Prior Events    55 10/3/2010   Hell in a Cell    210 10/24/2010   Bragging Rights    137 11/21/2010   Survivor Series    244 12/19/2010   TLC    195 12/31/2010   Prior Events    (2) 1/30/2011   Royal Rumble    446 2/20/2011   Elimination Chamber    199 3/31/2011   Prior Events    45 4/3/2011   Wrestlemania    1,059 5/1/2011   Extreme Rules    209 5/22/2011   Over the Limit    140 6/19/2011   Capitol Punishment    170 6/30/2011   Prior Events    20 7/17/2011   Money in the Bank    195 8/14/2011   Summerslam    296 9/18/2011   Night of Champions    161 9/30/2011   Prior Events    106 10/2/2011   Hell in a Cell    182 10/23/2011   Vengeance    121 11/20/2011   Survivor Series    281 12/18/2011   TLC    179 12/31/2011   Prior Events    33 1/29/2012   Royal Rumble    443 2/19/2012   Elimination Chamber    178 3/31/2012   Prior Events    64 4/1/2012   Wrestlemania    1,217 4/29/2012   Extreme Rules    263 5/20/2012   Over the Limit    167 6/17/2012   No Way Out    194 6/30/2012   Prior Events    56 Last reported 8-K SEC filing number was used for each event. Data was last updated: 10/30/12; last SEC filing used was 08/02/12  This looks at the average revenue per PPV event and average revenue per month of TV rights fees. FY2000 - $12.2 in TV fees, $106.4 in PPV revenue (12 PPVs) FY2001 - $35.2 in TV fees, $128.2 in PPV revenue (12 PPVs) FY2002 - $53.3 in TV fees, $112 in PPV revenue (12 PPVs) FY2003 - $58.5 in TV fees, $91.1 in PPV revenue (12 PPVs) FY2004 - $71.1 in TV fees, $95.3 in PPV revenue (12 PPVs) FY2005 - $78 in TV fees, $85.5 in PPV revenue (12 PPVs) (FY2006 & TY2006 was slammed together in chart) - $140.2 in TV fees (for 20 months) and $148.2 in PPV revenue (for 27 PPVs) CY2007 - $92.4 in TV fees, $94.3 in PPV revenue (15 PPVs) CY2008 - $100.7 in TV fees, $91.4 in PPV revenue (14 PPVs) CY2009 - $111.9 in TV fees, $80 in PPV revenue (14 PPVs) CY2010 - $127 in TV fees, $70.2 in PPV revenue (13 PPVs) CY2011 - $131.5 in TV fees, $78.3 in PPV revenue (13 PPVs) Three quarters of CY2012 - $98.9 in TV fees (for 9 months), $70.6 in PPV revenue (for 9 PPVs) (The last number is a bit weighted heavy towards the revenue rich Wrestlemania event.) They make almost 50% more a month on TV fees than on PPV revenues. There is certainly a strong incentive there to keep their TV ratings in a place that keeps NBCUniversal happy. There's lots of big questions are: (a) how much more (if any) did they get for 3 hour RAWs (and Main Event)? (b) What's the plan with the WWE Network in light of all of these economics? (c) Will Smackdown! stay where it is? (RAW was steady around 3.6 from 2003-2011 while Smackdown! went from 3.7 down to below 2.0) (d) Will WWE manage to keep raising domestic TV fees (which rose 20% from 2001-2004 levels) or will they have to increasingly rely on international (which rose 36% from 2001-2004 levels)? |
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