PPV Buys The Past Two Years

[Jack-Hammer]

The preliminary figures for WWE's Hell in a Cell and Battleground pay-per-views were released earlier today and the numbers are somewhat surprising and somewhat expected. The latest reports has HIAC topping 205,000 buys and Battleground doing in the 125-130,000 range. These aren't the final figures, but they're pretty close.

PPV Figures 2012 vs. 2013

Royal Rumble 2012 buys - 443,000
Royal Rumble 2013 buys - 670,000

Elimination Chamber 2012 buys - 194,000
Elimination Chamber 2013 buys - 240,000

WrestleMania 28 ppv buys - 1,219,000
WrestleMania 29 ppv buys - 1,104,000

Extreme Rules 2012 ppv buys - 271,000
Extreme Rules 2013 ppv buys - 245,000

Over The Limit 2012 ppv buys - 172,000
Payback 2013 ppv buys - 198,000

Money in the Bank 2012 ppv buys - 206,000
Money in the Bank 2013 ppv buys - 199,000

SummerSlam 2012 ppv buys - 392,000
SummerSlam 2013 ppv buys - 296,000

Night of Champions 2012 ppv buys - 207,000
Night of Champions 2013 ppv buys - 175,000

Hell in a Cell 2012 ppv buys - 199,000
Hell in a Cell 2013 ppv buys - 205,000+

Battleground 2013 ppv buys - 125,000 - 130,000 estimation

WWE 2012 ppv totals - 3,303,000
WWE 2013 ppv totals - 3,457,000 - 3,462,000

I left out Survivor Series & TLC for 2012 as this year's numbers for Survivor Series haven't had time to come out and TLC hasn't happened yet. Comparing all the rest, based in the info from gerweck.net and info on the HIAC & Battleground shows announced today, WWE is up about 154,000 to 159,000 buys compared to last year. The totals were definitely bolstered due to the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber ppvs drawing 670,000 and 240,000 buys respectively. The Rock wrestled Punk on both shows and his presence helped jack the buyrates up considerably over the same show's last year. Battleground, which has been panned as the worst ppv of the year among many fans & dirtsheet writers, drew far less than any other show of the year. Unless the 125,000 - 130,000 estimates go up, it'll replace the 2011 Over The Limit ppv as the worst drawing since the 90,000 buys December to Dismember drew back in 2006.

 

[CyberPunk]

The PPV buys show a very interesting trend. For example, if we see the last 4 PPVs i.e. SummerSlam onwards, PPV buys have considerably lower than last year except HIAC. Incidentally, HIAC was the PPV on which people were expecting Bryan to finally win the WWE title and have a meaningful run (which of course didn't happen). To be very honest, the headliners for last year's PPV after SummerSlam were more about Punk and his long reign, which this time it has been all Authority.

Rock's presence really bolstered the earlier PPVs, but Wrestlemania 29 buys show that people were really not that interested to see Rock vs Cena again, though Rock is the main reason past 2 Manias have done over million buys. Also, we have to remember that this year has been a phase where more changes have happened, be it the tag team division or midcard.

I am just hoping that these numbers are not really used to gauge Bryan's drawing power at the top, or chopping and changing tag division, or result into sudden knee jerk stop gap measures.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

You left out No Way Out 2012 which drew a solid 202,000 buys. That screws up your totals. 2012 wins.

 

[Blade]

I'm too lazy to do the maths, and I'm unsure how the final end of year totals will add up, especially with what is likely to be a very poor Survivor Series buy rate. But I'm hoping WWE don't think this is cause to celebrate.

I mean, sure, it's short-term money in their pocket. But what it shows is that WWE just doesn't have any big draws. The Rock is there, getting great buys for the Rumble and the Elimination Chamber. But he's there a handful months of the year. Who knows if he'll even do any shows in 2014? He doesn't have to do any if he doesn't want to, he certainly doesn't need the money. And the other increase in buys is from Hell in a Cell, which I think has a lot to do with Shawn Michaels being around. Admittedly, the build up was also surprisingly good, but that was because of Shawn and his history with both Bryan and Triple H.

Has the drawing power of John Cena diminished? Two of the Pay Per Views that exceeded expectations weren't headlined by Cena, but rather the Rock and Punk. Shows that Cena did headline: Wrestlemania 29, Extreme Rules, Payback (compared to No Way Out 2012, not Over the Limit), Money in the Bank and Summerslam. All down from last year. So it is entirely possible that WWE need to pull in the reigns on Cena a little bit.

Admittedly, Battleground had a very low buyrate without Cena. But I think that's far more to do with the piss poor build up, the perception that Bryan didn't stand a chance of overcoming the authority after being beaten down week after week and being screwed twice, the other headline match being Ryback vs. CM Punk, and the undercard which was all completely uninteresting apart from the Rhodes vs. the Shield.

I think it comes down to TLC. WWE really have to look at that buy rate whenever it comes out. Because it's Randy Orton vs. John Cena, two established, bona fide stars fighting for the unification of the two World titles for the first time since 2002. If they can't get at least 240,000 buys off that, then they need to seriously rethink what they're doing.

 

[DietPepsiRocks]

IF TLC bombs, it'll be sweet justice...Especially after Survivor Series would have bombed..it'll be proof that it wasn't Bryan's fault....because if the numbers are low even after he's taken out of the main event, then it wasn't his fault at all and its the angle that turned people off.

 

[Kris Benwa]

I'm too lazy to do the maths, and I'm unsure how the final end of year totals will add up, especially with what is likely to be a very poor Survivor Series buy rate. But I'm hoping WWE don't think this is cause to celebrate.

I mean, sure, it's short-term money in their pocket. But what it shows is that WWE just doesn't have any big draws. The Rock is there, getting great buys for the Rumble and the Elimination Chamber. But he's there a handful months of the year. Who knows if he'll even do any shows in 2014? He doesn't have to do any if he doesn't want to, he certainly doesn't need the money. And the other increase in buys is from Hell in a Cell, which I think has a lot to do with Shawn Michaels being around. Admittedly, the build up was also surprisingly good, but that was because of Shawn and his history with both Bryan and Triple H.

Has the drawing power of John Cena diminished? Two of the Pay Per Views that exceeded expectations weren't headlined by Cena, but rather the Rock and Punk. Shows that Cena did headline: Wrestlemania 29, Extreme Rules, Payback (compared to No Way Out 2012, not Over the Limit), Money in the Bank and Summerslam. All down from last year. So it is entirely possible that WWE need to pull in the reigns on Cena a little bit.

Admittedly, Battleground had a very low buyrate without Cena. But I think that's far more to do with the piss poor build up, the perception that Bryan didn't stand a chance of overcoming the authority after being beaten down week after week and being screwed twice, the other headline match being Ryback vs. CM Punk, and the undercard which was all completely uninteresting apart from the Rhodes vs. the Shield.

I think it comes down to TLC. WWE really have to look at that buy rate whenever it comes out. Because it's Randy Orton vs. John Cena, two established, bona fide stars fighting for the unification of the two World titles for the first time since 2002. If they can't get at least 240,000 buys off that, then they need to seriously rethink what they're doing.

But you have to look WrestleMania 29 was all rematches. Extreme Rules was for the most part headlined by another rematch in Lesnar and HHH. Cena faced ??? there. At Payback he faced Ryback which compared to OTL drew more. From then it's Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan. But you look at the PPV's where Cena isn't there you have 175,000 and about 130,000. That's NOC being down 32,000 down from last year and Battleground possible doing the lowest in these two years. But at Hell in a Cell where Cena makes his return the ppv jumps back into the 200,000's. I think there's an argument from both sides but you have to take a look and see ratings and ppv buys with Cena go down and when he's back they go up even if only slightly. I agree on your last point though.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

What I take from this:

The Good
1. Announcing main events way ahead of time and in front of big Raw audiences is a good idea. Between The Rock's announcement post WM27 and at Raw 1000 it appears that getting the word out early and in front of big crowds works.

2. The Rock is a huge draw. Santino announcing he is fighting Sandow at WM42 during the next Super Bowl doesn't work despite the talking head BS I puked in point #1. But The Rock doing it sells. Regardless of the WM dip, The RR and Elimination Chamber are good to great numbers. The Rock deserves credit. I think Punk deserves credit too.

3. Despite the bitching and moaning, gimmick match PPV's are a good idea. NOC, Payback, OTL, and Battleground didn't exactly put up great numbers. Maybe I'm overstating but if I'm WWE I'm working on match concepts more than I work on storylines.

The Not So Good
1. Either more PPVs equals more money so we are stuck with more PPVs or Jack Hammer was being unfair and left out a 2012 PPV skewing his numbers or BOTH.

2. Lesnar - SummerSlam, WM, and Extreme Rules makes me think his returns may be diminishing. This is the biggest "Not So Good" sign of them all. His match with Punk should have put SS in a much better number.

3. Cena - I think he's slipping, not a ton and not a reason to throw him overboard or turn him heel but 2013 may be a downward trend for him. However that doesn't mean he can't move forward again. His feud with Nikki Bella over which hamper to use for soiled garments could be huge.

4. DB - blame the authority and HHH all you want. His fans are very vocal but not very rich or influential. I love the guy but he is who he is.

5. NY/NJ Metro - I wonder how many PPV buys are lost when you put an event in a big WWE area like NY compared to a place like New Orleans or Atlanta.

So basically what I'm trying to say is that Vince has a ton more money than me and I don't have a clue what causes these numbers to go up and down. WWE is fine and I can't afford to furnish my house fast and nice enough to my wife's liking.

 

[Limitless]

The buys are a little indication of what works. The Rock deserves credit for WM 28 and 29. Cena facing anyone but taker I do not think would have come close. WWE is going to have some major problems soon though. Cena is slipping and Taker will be leaving soon.

Cena has faced and beaten almost everyone and left nothing to really be desired. As big as TLC is "supposed" to be, It just isn't that intriguing to me. WWE keeps hyping so much and not delivering, or making huge booking mistakes. Rock vs Cena II should have never happened, actually the whole card was a flop, except for Taker and Punk. Rock could have been in a different match and it still would have been huge.

As far as the Gimmick PPV's go, I think that they work in terms of buys. That really means nothing though, when you consider that the only reason some people buy it is because of the supposed "Gimmick" matches, which to me don't deliver. Wrestling didn't always need gimmick matches to sell and card and now it seems that is the only way without a Big Star coming back.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

These things don't exist in a vacuum. You guys need to understand that. What else was going on at the time? What was the rest of the economy doing at the time. What were the illegal download numbers like? These things all matter just as much or more than what the WWE is doing.

Numbers in late 3rd quarter/early 4th quarter started to drop. What else happened in the economy? The goddamn government shutdown. You think maybe that had something to do with it?

Not only that, but are some of these differences even statistically significant or does it fall within the range of random variance?

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

The mania drop is t a big deal or surprising. 28 had a match that was a HUGE deal. Non wrestling fans knew about it. It was Rock actually wrestling and wrestling Cena at Mania. Of course numbers will be down from that. 28 was the highest grossing wrestling ppv of all time so that's a hard mountain to climb.

 

[chicagokmc]

Just curious...for the folks here in this forum, how many of you buy any of these ppvs? Do you buy them regularly, go online and see the results late sunday night or just wait until Monday night when everything is recapped. I treat wrestling ppvs like boxing, I just can't find reasons to actually buy them any more. I think the last wrestling PPV I bought was over 10 years ago.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Just curious...for the folks here in this forum, how many of you buy any of these ppvs? Do you buy them regularly, go online and see the results late sunday night or just wait until Monday night when everything is recapped. I treat wrestling ppvs like boxing, I just can't find reasons to actually buy them any more. I think the last wrestling PPV I bought was over 10 years ago.

I got to bars that have them or find people who are streaming. Which is another thing people don't calculate. Buyrates are pretty damn good considering all the ways around it. The only people who buy are people who want the convenience of not losing a stream and who don't mind dropping 50 bucks.

 

[CyberPunk]

Just curious...for the folks here in this forum, how many of you buy any of these ppvs? Do you buy them regularly, go online and see the results late sunday night or just wait until Monday night when everything is recapped. I treat wrestling ppvs like boxing, I just can't find reasons to actually buy them any more. I think the last wrestling PPV I bought was over 10 years ago.

We still don't get these PPVs here in India. Instead, we have it live on TV or deferred live on the same day on our TVs.

Also, yes, the Government shutdown may have affected the buyrates towards the later part of the year. It's a huge possibility.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Just curious...for the folks here in this forum, how many of you buy any of these ppvs? Do you buy them regularly, go online and see the results late sunday night or just wait until Monday night when everything is recapped. I treat wrestling ppvs like boxing, I just can't find reasons to actually buy them any more. I think the last wrestling PPV I bought was over 10 years ago.

I think 2009 was the last year I bought more than just the Rumble and Mania. I bought No Way Out 09, Backlash 09, Judgment Day 09 and SummerSlam 09.

I streamed a good chunk of 2010's PPVs, although I did buy Rumble, Chamber and Mania. In 2007, I bought Rumble and Mania, streamed MitB, SS and NoC, and didn't even watch any of the others. Once Punk got buried by Triple H, I was disinterested. I caught glimpses of the PPVs after they happened, like Punk's Survivor Series win, and Rock's tag match, but I didn't order them or stream them live.

In 2012/13, I caught the Rumble and the Chamber on a stream and ordered WrestleMania live, but have yet to even watch any other PPV in its entirety. I'm only catching glimpses after what people tell me is worth watching.

I'm not wasting my time on all the filler and boring match-ups that WWE keeps putting on just to watch 1 or 2 things that actually interest me.