The history of the company
The company has been in constant evolution since it was founded in 1953 as a capital Wrestling Corporation. Then it changes to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) after that World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and now from 2002, it becomes World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Since its birth, the business has changed in response to the changing demands of the world.
Viewership of WWE
Right now WWE broadcasts in over 180 countries and 28 languages. The viewership of WWE is extended from 800 million fans around the world. It had 11 million fans only in the United States of America, 40 percent of its audience is women and 17 percent are under 18 years old. In 2015, WWE generated $801 million in revenue, which rose to 10 percent in the first quarter of 2016. In the second quarter, revenues were up 31 percent to $281.6 million. This quarterly turnover is the highest within WWE.
Factors why WWE is so popular
Now we are going to discuss factors why this sport has gained that much popularity :
There are the following factors that caused much popularity in the sports.
- The business model
- The thrill and involvement of the audience
- The projection of its top performers
- International athletes and their participation
- Taking care of its top performers
- The injection of new blood and performers
The business model and its revenues
The last year’s earnings of WWE is worth $ 72 million, all depending on the WWE business model. The business model is established by increasing the reach to its audience and selling their TV rights to different TV channels and networks. The main revenue-generation is from TV rights. WWE also planning that after five years it doesn’t require cable TV networks all around the world. They have designed a strategy to capture the market by increasing subscribers and followers of WWE. The company shows go live three-time of a week.
The paper view shows
The Raw, Smackdown, and NXT present their shows once a week. Along with them Paperviews like Wrestle Mania, Royal Rumble, and Summer Slam also go on air. This paper view show captures the audience all around the world. So people also follow their weekly shows.
The Thrill and Involvement of Audience
The key to success for every entertainment and sports is the involvement of the audience. People are thrilled when they see the WWE show along with their favorite wrestlers.
You can feel the involvement of the crowd, as people are crying, shouting, applauding their favorite wrestlers. Every viewer has picked their favorite wrestlers and they even remember the moves. The issues between wrestlers are figured out by the audience.
The Projection of its Top Performers
Some of the matches of WWE are not real and their result was predetermined but the projections of their top performers are amazing. People of every generation would tell you they liked that wrestler most due to particular characteristics. The audience follows those wrestlers and people love to watch them and viewership touches to its peak when these wrestlers perform. Now talk about Hogan, Undertaker, Goldberg, Jone Cena, Triple H, etc. Everybody familiar with them and nobody is going to miss their matches.
International Athletes and their Participation in WWE
Time by Time different sports and entertainment celebrities come on the stage of WWE and project the image of the company. Like well renowned Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson also came to the stage of WWE and praised different wrestlers. What effect it makes to the audience, the credibility of the show increases and everybody involved in the show. This technique of inducting celebrities in their shows paid well to WWE.
Taking Care of its Past Performers
WWE is taking care of its top performers of the past. They are well paid and their encouragement is done by an award of “Hall of Fame”. These activities also make a soft image of the company and the audience do think that they are supporting their top performers of the past. Well paid performers made WWE a top brand of today.
The Injection of Young Blood and Performers
The induction of new blood in the organization under NXT also made the company ever-evolving. A new bread of wrestlers is coming from all directions and viewership is mounting to its peaks. So there is n shortage of young performers for WWE. For Example, Roman Reign started their career as an NXT star then he becomes the world’s renowned wrestler. He won many championships and belts and he is now the current Universal champion of the world.
Conclusion
The organizations like WWE can grow and this idea becomes a success story. We in our country can promote wrestling as a super sport. The talent and viewership of wrestling in Pakistan in quite amazing as wrestling is in our blood. The only need is a public-private partnership to make this concept grow. Our government should take sports as a business entity and they can gather as much profit from sports as from other business. Sports bring a positive change for the whole society. By promoting a culture of sports in the country we can eradicate the crime rate and a healthy young generation is the requirement of the time.