Expand the sub menu Theater. Expand the sub menu VIP. Expand the sub menu More Coverage. Expand the sub menu More Variety. Switch edition between U. Asia Global. To help keep your account secure, please log-in again. The lawyer-turned-wrestler can briefly be seen in the trailer toward the end.
The presence of Berry, a major name in Hollywood, and the quality of talent involved acclaimed filmmaker Brad Anderson is directing seems to guarantee this.
Notably, ads for the film have been been airing regularly on U. The Vince cuts are out of this world, amazing. Wait until you see it. As it relates to Bill Simmons, who some have referred to as the godfather of podcasts or the pod father, this past quarter, we closed the deal with Spotify and The Ringer for Spotify to become the exclusive audio network of WWE.
The partnership jump starts us in this all-important space while allowing us to leverage the resources and reach of Spotify and its million subscribers. We're confident that with Spotify's expertise alongside our library of intellectual property and our talent that we will deliver an audio product that excites existing fans while also introducing WWE content to the millions of Spotify listeners.
I would also like to discuss some new business with you. As we focus on extracting more value from our IP wheel, further establishing new businesses that expand WWE's brand and drives revenue is a key for all of us. We've had an active quarter creating new revenue streams and increasing the value of existing lines of business. One area we've spent the last year examining is our strategic approach to pay-per-views. We've looked into all parts of that business that are making adjustments that we believe will enhance our results by making each pay-per-view a special event not only in its content, but in all things surrounding each event.
As promised last quarter, we recently announced our pay-per-view calendar for , the dates, cities, venues. For the first time in our history, we're hosting at least four pay-per-view nights in stadiums in the United States. Louis, a Saturday night, where there is no real competitive programming on the sports calendar. Typically, we have done Royal Rumble a week later during Pro Bowl weekend.
Thus far, ticket sales are off the charts, tracking as well as this year's SummerSlam, where we ended up with a gate four times the gate of SummerSlam , a clear sign of the value of bringing our tentpole events to major venues on the right night.
Let's see what two nights brings for our Super Bowl. Tickets go on sale next week. Our stadium event after that, another on of our big five pay-per-views, Money in the Bank, the weekend going into July 4, will be back at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Over , people are expected to travel to Las Vegas that weekend to celebrate the Fourth. We expect to see many of them at Money in the Bank. If you've been to Nashville in the summer on a weekend, it's booming and growing, and we are growing SummerSlam with it.
What we found from this past SummerSlam in Las Vegas, of the 50, plus who attended, not one ticket was purchased from Tennessee, not 1. So many similarities between those two cities on the weekends, not much crossover between those two cities on the weekends and a robust ticket buying market in each for us to tap into and grow with.
One other item to highlight relating to our pay-per-view events. As we discussed previously, this upcoming New year's Eve is a Friday. Both college football playoff games are on that Friday. Usually the NFL will go to a Saturday and Sunday schedule once the college football regular season is over. That is no longer happening on Saturdays late in the season with the NFL's new week regular season, and over , people are expected in Atlanta for that New year's weekend.
With the removal of NFL competition and the city packed with visitors, we thought it might be smart to have an event there the next night, again, Saturday, January 1. We expect to benefit from all of those weakened guests looking for entertainment the night after New year 's eve. Look for more integration like that across our product.
Another area where we've strategically pivoted in an effort to further grow our business is with a new trading card partner, Panini. As all of you know, the trading card market is booming right now with a handful of companies competing for a select number of deals with the top sports properties.
We received multiple bids from those companies. Panini, with their expertise, doggedness and domestic and international knowledge, proved out to be the best partner for us in this space. The deal is considered -- is a considerable financial step up from our previous trading card deal.
We also recently announced a new multiyear agreement with Fox to launch an NFT marketplace for licensed digital WWE tokens and collectibles. Fox is obviously our existing partner in the U. And coming out of the pandemic, we've been able to spend considerable in-person time with Fox's senior executive team to think of additional ways to work together.
This new collaboration will create authentic NFTs that showcases WWE's catalog of digital assets, including iconic moments, legendary superstars and premier events such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam. With our wholly owned intellectual property, we have a competitive advantage in our ability to leverage the immense popularity of NFTs as well as the activities surrounding trading cards and other collectibles.
It's been a busy quarter with a sustained focus on strengthening our existing businesses and establishing new revenue streams. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to my colleague, Stephanie McMahon, recently named the number two most influential marketing executive in the world by Forbes.
She will cover a number of items, including our significant growth in sponsorship over the past year. Thanks very much. Thank you, Nick. And unfortunately, everyone, I have to start with some bad news. He did make it to the top 10, and his weekly appearance was seen by nearly six million viewers on ABC, raising awareness for both Miz and WWE.
As Nick mentioned, we are changing from an arena-based touring model to a stadium-based touring model, allowing us to better align all lines of business around our key tentpole events. For example, SummerSlam was held at Allegiant Stadium, the first time SummerSlam has ever been held in an NFL stadium, attracting a record 51, fans and drawing a record gate. As Nick mentioned, more than 4 times greater than the last SummerSlam held with fans in SummerSlam also marked the finish of The Summer of Cena, a strategic move to use one of our biggest superstars to help kick off our return to live events that began on July Brock's return broke Cena's Instagram record at 4.
To help give perspective, there are four key areas of growth across sales and sponsorship: content integrations, superstar brands, digital, social and international. In terms of content integration, would you ever see a Pure Life truck drive into Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and have Patrick Mahomes spray down fans with a Pure Life branded Super Soaker as part of a touchdown celebration?
Or have zombies replace the offensive line for one down? My guess is no. But you can in WWE and because we have all the exciting action of a live game but are scripted like a great movie, we can write those integrations in ways that are fun and memorable for the audience and our partners.
We produced 16 pieces of original content that delivered over 0. Each Superhero is their own individual franchise and WWE has just begun to unlock some of our incredible IP, which dates back generations with each Superstar being their own brand with their own story. Becky Lynch on the cover of Golden Crisp or The Miz with his own reality show are just a few examples.
And international sales are just getting up to bat as we focus on creating more localized content. Additionally, engagement metrics continue to be strong for WWE, with a slight increase in television ratings for both Raw and SmackDown despite tough competition from the return of live sports. With the continuing focus on innovation and interactivity, WWE was recently announced as one of three launch partners with Snapchat's new augmented reality division, Arcadia, in which we will be creating fun and unexpected AR experiences for fans at upcoming events.
And I would be remiss if I didn't recognize how excited we are for the launch of our console game 2K 22 in March We are pleased with our overall performance in the quarter, highlighting our ability to deliver on strategic initiatives, captivate a passionate audience and drive value for our business partners and shareholders. Thank you, Stephanie, and hello to WWE shareholders.
Today, I will discuss WWE's financial performance. As a reminder, all comparisons are versus the year ago quarter, unless I say otherwise. In the third quarter, WWE generated solid financial results as we focused on optimizing our return to live event touring, driving fan engagement and increasing efficiency in our content production.
To review the third quarter performance in more detail, let's turn to slide three of the presentation, which shows revenue, operating income and adjusted OIBDA contribution by segments. Looking at the WWE Media segment. That increase reflected in part the lower cost of producing televised content from our training facility in the prior year quarter.
Media segment revenue increased slightly as the contractual escalation of WWE's core content rights fees from the distribution of Raw and SmackDown were partially offset by a decrease in network revenue. The latter was driven by the timing of license fees associated with the delivery of WWE Network content to Peacock as compared to the recognition of subscription revenue in the prior year quarter.
In mid-July, we transitioned our television and pay-per-view production from the Yuengling Center in Tampa Bay to the arenas and stadiums that are part of our touring model. Recall that in the third quarter of , we were producing a barebones production out of our performance center in Orlando for much of the quarter until we established our WWE ThunderDome experience in late August Since taking over NXT, McMahon, along with senior vice president Bruce Prichard, has made the brand indistinguishable from the main roster.
All of these issues have persisted on the main shows for the last few years, as well. His soft-spoken, eloquent promos where he would display his verbose vocabulary politely but poignantly would also be a thing of the past. Suddenly, he was reduced to the tired, one-dimensional angry Black dude who frowns as he squashes his opponents. Kross arguably had the worst main roster call up in WWE history as he went from being a final boss in NXT alongside his manager and wife Scarlett Bordeaux to a solo performer in a gladiator in a gimp suit.
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