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%.
