Although he portrayed the news as upbeat, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s forecast of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view buyrate has to be viewed as a strong negative.
During Thursday’s Q2 investor conference call, McMahon said that early estimates indicate the 2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view buyrate will be up by 20% from the prior year’s number.
In its relevant earnings statement last year, WWE reported the Money in the Bank buyrate at 165,000, which would mean this year’s show is only trending for about 200,000 buys.
If that number indeed proves accurate (early forecasts have, admittedly, been off in some recent cases), it will be a significant disappointment given the high-profile buzz behind its focal point, the CM Punk-John Cena angle.
Some industry analysts were looking for as many as 150-175,000 domestic buys, which would have put the buyrate total more in the 300,000 range.
More compellingly, WWE did 209,000 buys for “Extreme Rules,” 140,000 for Over the Limit and 170,000 buys for “Capitol Punishment” this past quarter. Unless the final Money in the Bank total is adjusted significantly upward, the performance for the show is not much better than what could be expected of a slightly-above-average B-show. That does not speak favorably regarding how many purchases were driven by the seemingly-hot television angle with CM Punk.