The latest WWE business comparisons, for April, are out:
Average attendance April 2005 – 9,120
Average attendance April 2006 – 6.844 (-25%)
March 2006 – 4,661
Average gate April 2005 – $315,000
Average gate April 2006 – $216,000 (-32%)
March 2006 – $147,000
Percentage house shows sold out April 2005 – 60%
Percentage house shows sold out April 2006 – 29%
March 2006 – 9%
Notes: In 2005, WWE ran five non-PPV live events in the USA but they were all TV tapings. There were no house shows in the traditional sense, whereas this year they ran four of them in addition to the five TV tapings, which took the average attendance and gate figures down.
Average Raw rating April 2005 – 4.04
Average Raw rating April 2006 – 4.12 (+2%)
March 2006 – 4.13
Notes: Raw is actually up 4.7% in viewers due to more people per household watching the show. The show is still on a slight slide, from 5.34 million viewers in January to 5.21 in February to 5.17 in March to 5.11 in April, but is still doing good numbers.
Average Smackdown rating April 2005 – 3.32
Average Smackdown rating April 2006 – 2.40 (-28%)
March 2006 – 2.63
Notes: Smackdown is down 24% in viewers from April 2005, falling from 5.14 million to 3.89. Prior to Batista leaving in January, they were drawing 4.9 million viewers on Friday nights, falling to 4.76 in February and 4.11 in March. Nobody in the company is expecting the rot to stop until the CW network launches in September, though they will still have to somehow entice viewers back to the show whilst in the same timeslot.
WrestleMania 21:
– 20,193 sell out
– $2.1 million gate
– 985,000 buys
– $21 million company revenue
WrestleMania 22:
– 17,155 sell out
– $2.5 million gate
– 925,000 buys (-6%)
– $20 million company revenue (-3%)
Backlash 2005:
– 14,000 sell out (12,000 paid)
– $700,000 gate
– 310,000 buys
– $5 million company revenue
Backlash 2006:
– 14,000 sell out (8,400 paid)
– $480,000 gate
– 215,000 buys (-31%)
– $3 million company revenue (-31%)
Notes: The final number of buys for this year’s event will probably wind up being closer to last year’s number. The higher ticket scale for this year’s event will also make the overall revenue figure more or less the same as it was last year. There are no excuses for Backlash, which flopped this year.
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
