The WWE marketing machine
The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is a unique organization in many aspects. Some people like it, some people hate it, some people simply do not care about it, but there is no denying of its success. The company produces 5 hours of original weekly programming, totaling at 52 weeks per year. Its flagship national programs are “Raw” & “Smackdown”, holding #1 & #2 spots as the longest running weekly episodic program in the US with more than 1 200 for Raw or 900 episodes for Smackdown. Their taped show “NXT” is filmed at Full Sail University thus giving the students enrolled in their digital media & entertainment programs to gain real-world experience by learning from professionals. Although many non-viewers complain to the fact that the fighting scenes in their shows are “scripted and fake” that does not affect the viewer rating in any of the demographics as due to its TV-PG rating it is considered as “family fun for all members”
WWE started its own filming company in 2002 as a natural extension of the entertainment business with the weekly shows of Raw & Smackdown. The WWE Studios produces mostly action movies and family comedies and the majority of them is straight-to-video. The key component of their movies is that the leading role is a wrestler who has been or is currently on the roster of the company. The movies have been widely unsuccessful except for “The Call” with Halle Berry that earned over $70 million on a budget of $13 million. Even though the numbers have not been great, the company has not been discouraged and has produced 9 movies in 2017.
In the gaming industry “WWE2K19” is one of the 10 most anticipated games within the multiplatform releases thus ranking it above many other sport-entertainment franchises and just behind “FIFA19”, “NBA Live 19”, and “NBA2K19”. This is even more of an accolade considering these games continue to grab gamer´s attention each year, although the premise and final product are very similar year after year. Gaining new customers or keeping old ones is more and more of a challenge as expectations within the gaming community rise.
In the aspects of digital media WWE does not fall behind and this will be discussed more in the video segment. Their website WWE.com is visually appealing and has a wide range of information that is updated on a daily basis. The WWE Network is the first-ever 24/7 direct-to-consumer network and it was launched live in February of 2014. The WWE App is available on the iOS and Android platforms for free. The company also partially shares its video content on YouTube, Hulu, and other select video portals. WWE is daily active on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and uses social media to raise awareness for great causes and maintain contact with the fans, its bread and butter. Hate it or love it, you cannot deny its success.