WWE officially confirmed its second-quarter pay-per-view buyrates in its earning statement Thursday, and the results were fairly flat year-over-year.
On paper, WWE’s pay-per-view revenues will be much higher than those of the prior year’s quarter ($34.4 million to $10.4 million), but that disparity can be attributed to WrestleMania, which took place in Q2 rather than Q1 this year. WWE lists the WrestleMania buyrate at a strong 1.059 million.
WrestleMania XXVI, the 2010 show, garnered 885,000 buys.
The 2011 Extreme Rules pay-per-view pulled 209,000 buys, up from 182,000. Over the Limit, however, was down fairly significantly–it fell from 197,000 buys to 140,000 buys in ’11.
WWE Capitol Punishment posted 170,000, which is a gain from last year’s corresponding Fatal 4 Way (143,000). That being noted, Fatal 4 Way was considered a massive flop, due in large part to its concept, so the increase had to be expected.
All in all, WWE’s total number of buys for non-WrestleMania shows was up slightly, although they also contain an increased-portion of overseas buys.
According to WWE, domestic buys, valuable because they bring more revenue and because they are in a more-constant “universe” that more consistently reflects interest in the product, were down 9%.