WWE.com Announces Preliminary WM 28 Numbers

[Jack-Hammer]

Earlier today, WWE.com announced that WrestleMania XXVIII set new records for ppv buys and for global gross sales.

Preliminary estimates show that WrestleMania XXVIII took in 1.3 million ppv buys with global sales in excess of $67 million. The official numbers won't be announced by WWE officials until the second quarterly financial meeting, so it's possible that these numbers will be higher by the time all the estimates are tallied up.

Given the overall reaction that the show garnered and the amount that it appears to have generated, there's no way this can't be called a huge success.

 

[a7xfan93]

It really was a great Wrestlemania. I wouldn't say the best, but much better than the last few years. Great matches, amazing moments, it was totally worth the $60 I payed to watch it. The only problem I had was the 18 second match. However, since that match I've grown a whole lot of respect for Daniel Bryan, as he is in my top 5 now. But yeah, Wrestlemania 28 was truly an awesome event!

 

[alistahr]

its still more than the average ufc ppv and this is 2012, wrestling isnt as hot as it was, tons of wrestling fans know of free streams online.. id say its pretty good


again, thank the rock for it

 

[FlairFan2003]

OK, if someone has the numbers correct me if Im wrong... WWE is saying WM did 1.3 million buys, didnt Starrcade 97 do 1.6 million buys, Starrcade 98 1.4 million, and SuperBrawl 99 1.2 million ?

My point is while total revenue might be a record, I dont think the total buys were a record. It is possible with merchandise sales, ticket prices, etc to set an overall record for total revenue without getting a record for actual attendance or PPV buys. In other words it may have been the most profitable WM but it wasnt the most watched PPV.

However, it does prove that John Cena brings in big numbers, he's a legit main event card carrying star. I doubt anyone else on the current roster could have drawn a bigger number than he did vs The Rock

 

[Domo Nation]

This number is surely inflated. I only know one or two people other than myself who bought Mania, and I know a lot of wrestling fans. So there's no way they did over a million buys. The fact that the numbers have to be inflated to make things sound better than they are is a bad sign for WWE. By this time in a few years, Wrestlemania might have to be renamed Bound For Glory if things don't start looking up soon.

 

[bk555]

This can be considered somewhat of a success but not a huge one. I mean it did break records no matter how much it was hyped. I agree the even fell flat, but not by much. What did you expect?

WWE should be happy about the buyrates and just please PLEASE keep the ball rolling. It seems lately they always drop the good things that happen to them about a month later.

 

[HBKHHH2]

This number is surely inflated. I only know one or two people other than myself who bought Mania, and I know a lot of wrestling fans. So there's no way they did over a million buys. The fact that the numbers have to be inflated to make things sound better than they are is a bad sign for WWE. By this time in a few years, Wrestlemania might have to be renamed Bound For Glory if things don't start looking up soon.

I highly doubt they would inflate these numbers...they're a public company and falsifying these number would be misleading the stockholders.

Just because YOU know people that didn't buy WM doesn't mean everybody else.

I can guarantee WM did infact do over million buys...it was all Rock/Cena. All superstars bashing the Rock should be kissing his ass for a huge WM payday.

 

[reynolsg]

OK, if someone has the numbers correct me if Im wrong... WWE is saying WM did 1.3 million buys, didnt Starrcade 97 do 1.6 million buys, Starrcade 98 1.4 million, and SuperBrawl 99 1.2 million ?

My point is while total revenue might be a record, I dont think the total buys were a record. It is possible with merchandise sales, ticket prices, etc to set an overall record for total revenue without getting a record for actual attendance or PPV buys. In other words it may have been the most profitable WM but it wasnt the most watched PPV.

However, it does prove that John Cena brings in big numbers, he's a legit main event card carrying star. I doubt anyone else on the current roster could have drawn a bigger number than he did vs The Rock

I think what this is would be a common misconception when people use the word "buyrate".

"Buyrate" means the PERCENTAGE of available homes that ordered the PPV. So if a PPV does a 1.9, it means 1.9%.

"Buys" is the amount of purchases that the event did - for example, Wrestlemania 28 did 1.3 million BUYS. The BUYRATE is entirely different.

Check out this link to see buyrates for past events gone past -

http://www.2xzone.com/wwe/buyrates.shtml

If you look at the numbers from the 80s, they are HUGE - but, and this is the big but, PPV was nowhere as accessible so that translates into far fewer actual buys. Another example would be Wrestlemania 2000 doing a 2.35 and WMX-7 doing a 2.18, but X-7 took over a million buys and 2000 didn't.

As far as I recall, Starrcade 97 was the highest WCW ever did and it was a little under 800k, I could be wrong though.

 

[willross]

I highly doubt they would inflate these numbers...they're a public company and falsifying these number would be misleading the stockholders.

Just because YOU know people that didn't buy WM doesn't mean everybody else.

I can guarantee WM did infact do over million buys...it was all Rock/Cena. All superstars bashing the Rock should be kissing his ass for a huge WM payday.

Yea they are a publically traded company so these numbers cannot be inflated. It is a crime to do such a thing and people would go to jail for a long time and WWE would have irrepairable damage done to it.

The most bought PPV in pro wrestling history is WM28 (previously it was WM23 with 1.25 million). WWE always beat WCW in PPV buys so the numbers given in a previous post are completely false. The only entity that has beaten WWE in PPVs in UFC and even then their highest bought PPV did a 1.6 for Lesnar vs Mir 2.

It was a well deserved buyrate. It is the most stacked card since WM19.

 

[scomvp316]

Keep in mind this buyrate is estimated worldwide not dmestically. UFC for the last two years has averaged around one million buyrates per PPV not just one. Also UFC events not in Vegas have generated between $50-75 mill for the community that week of the PPV. Merchandise and DVD sales its not even close with UFC advantage 2 to 1. I think some fans look at TUF ratings and think UFC is slowing down and clearly TUF brand needs to be incorporated into monthly PPV's for six months to one year and still have the weekly show is how you would re-brand TUF. For any fan to think WWE has surpassed UFC in mothly numbers such as merchandise,dvd,and PPV sales just doesn't follow MMA. Keep in mind WWE changed their PPV prices cause they saw the monthly PPV buys at the price of UFC events and thought they could generate the same sales and it hasn't translated. One other thing Lesnar was brought in cause VKM is hoping some of his fans who use to be WWE fans will come back periodically to check out the WWE product!

 

[louchratis]

This PPV record is for Sports Entertainment only. When boxing had marketable heavyweights, they occasionally had PPV buys of over 1.4 million. Off the top of my head, I think Tyson-Holyfield II did around 1.9 million buys. The Wrestlemania 28 buy rate is still a huge number and, if true, shatters their previous record from Wrestlemania 23. Hopefully WWE can capitalize on the mainstream media exposure they'll undoubtedly get as a result of this.

 

[Dirt Dog]

No suprised it did so well especially with all the marquee matchups (Rock v Cena, HHH v Taker and Y2J v. Punk). It's kind of sad that out of those three matches only two wrestlers are full time, but that's a conversation for another post. But just as Jack Hammer said WM 28 can be considered nothing but a total success.

 

[zuma169]

Yea they are a publically traded company so these numbers cannot be inflated. It is a crime to do such a thing and people would go to jail for a long time and WWE would have irrepairable damage done to it.

The most bought PPV in pro wrestling history is WM28 (previously it was WM23 with 1.25 million). WWE always beat WCW in PPV buys so the numbers given in a previous post are completely false. The only entity that has beaten WWE in PPVs in UFC and even then their highest bought PPV did a 1.6 for Lesnar vs Mir 2.

It was a well deserved buyrate. It is the most stacked card since WM19.

in addition, the highest PPV buys in history is 2.4 million buys for the dela hoya vs. mayweather bout..

anything above 1 million PPV buys is considered a success..

 

[rge2010]

Lesnar was a HUGE draw in UFC. Think he has appeared on 3 of the 5 biggest of all time. Their biggest (as already pointed out) is Lesnar vs Mir 2 at UFC 100. That has beaten any WWE Event. Quite incredible really. UFC events are shown on subscription TV here in the UK. Don't think there is a demand for PPV market. I suppose it was a special event though, number 100, Lesnar out to get revenge on Mir (boy they hyped that one!) and you had GSP and Henderson who are both popular fighters on it.

WM28 getting 1.3 is a great success. Maybe the rumoured Lesnar vs Rock bout will draw in more....they will have to make WM30 really special if they do.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Keep in mind this buyrate is estimated worldwide not dmestically. UFC for the last two years has averaged around one million buyrates per PPV not just one. Also UFC events not in Vegas have generated between $50-75 mill for the community that week of the PPV. Merchandise and DVD sales its not even close with UFC advantage 2 to 1. I think some fans look at TUF ratings and think UFC is slowing down and clearly TUF brand needs to be incorporated into monthly PPV's for six months to one year and still have the weekly show is how you would re-brand TUF. For any fan to think WWE has surpassed UFC in mothly numbers such as merchandise,dvd,and PPV sales just doesn't follow MMA. Keep in mind WWE changed their PPV prices cause they saw the monthly PPV buys at the price of UFC events and thought they could generate the same sales and it hasn't translated. One other thing Lesnar was brought in cause VKM is hoping some of his fans who use to be WWE fans will come back periodically to check out the WWE product!

As someone with an economics minor and 1 semester from a major in business, the bolded part makes no sense.

first off, UFC and WWE aren't really all that comparable. PPV IS the UFCs show. PPVs are compliments to the WWE's weekly shows. Second, why in God's name would you raise your prices just because your competition did? If anything, you keep it a little lower.

Here's likely what really happened. WWE realized that most fans who are poorer will stream regardless. Most fans with the money to spent have a more inelastic demand when it comes to PPV so they can charge higher.

Vince didn't say "WHAT?? LOOK AT UFC, THEY GET HIGHER BUY NUMBERS BY CHARGING HIGHER AMOUNTS!!!!"

 

[kaneso14]

Keep in mind this buyrate is estimated worldwide not dmestically. UFC for the last two years has averaged around one million buyrates per PPV not just one.

Really? Averaged around 1 million buys per pay per view in the last two years. You are clearly mistaken, or just making things up. The only 3 pay per views in the last two years to go over 1 million buys were UFC 114 (Evans vs Jackson) 116 (Lesnar vs Carwin) and 121 (Lesnar vs Velasquez). The average buy rate is closer to 400-500,000.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Keep in mind this buyrate is estimated worldwide not dmestically. UFC for the last two years has averaged around one million buyrates per PPV not just one. Also UFC events not in Vegas have generated between $50-75 mill for the community that week of the PPV. Merchandise and DVD sales its not even close with UFC advantage 2 to 1. I think some fans look at TUF ratings and think UFC is slowing down and clearly TUF brand needs to be incorporated into monthly PPV's for six months to one year and still have the weekly show is how you would re-brand TUF. For any fan to think WWE has surpassed UFC in mothly numbers such as merchandise,dvd,and PPV sales just doesn't follow MMA. Keep in mind WWE changed their PPV prices cause they saw the monthly PPV buys at the price of UFC events and thought they could generate the same sales and it hasn't translated. One other thing Lesnar was brought in cause VKM is hoping some of his fans who use to be WWE fans will come back periodically to check out the WWE product!

http://www.mma-manifesto.com/ufc-ppv-data/

Just in case that link doesn't work or you pull something else out of your ass:
UFC 145, over 700,000
UFC 144, 375,000
UFC 143 400,000
UFC 142 225,000

In 2011 they averaged 424,375, with their top PPV, UFC 141 being 800,000 (Lesnar headlined card).

So yea, unless in 2010 they averaged like 1.5M buys per PPV, which they sure as hell didn't, we're just making stuff up. Their numbers are higher than the WWE's, but PPV is what they do. It's their bread and butter. It seems like if there isn't a big name, the buys are a lot lower.