Mark Shapiro Addresses Excessive Ads During WrestleMania 42, ‘Balancing The Fan Experience In Sports Business Is Never Easy’

Fans who watched WWE WrestleMania 42 saw just as many ads as they did in-ring time, leading to plenty of complaints.

On the TKO first quarter financials call, TKO COO Mark Shapiro addressed the concerns.

“We take any and all feedback, especially from our core fanbase, extremely seriously. High priority. We listen, we learn. At the same time, balancing the fan experience in the business of sports is never easy. Whether you’re talking ticket prices or commercial integration.

“It’s as old as time. Frankly, it’s crossing genres. No different than going to movies and you see prices rising for admission, popcorn, and candy, not to mention the 30 minutes of commercials and trailers prior to the film. Change takes getting used to. Back at ESPN, when we took our national ad window on SportsCenter from one minute to two minutes, there was significant backlash. It went on for months. In the NBA, if they even thought about putting a sponsorship patch on their jersey, fans cried out. Now, there are digital boards, the courts have sponsors. The Dodgers just put a naming right on the field at Dodger Stadium. Criticism for commercial breaks in the Final Four, college football, and the NFL, that’s something all those sports have had to manage.

“The WWE, in particular, is truly new to commercial integration and sponsorship. Change will be more glaring for some as we inevitably commercially integrate. There is no magic formula or serum. There is going to be trial and error over time. We have experimented, pushed some boundaries with various events and leaned in, with others we’ve pulled back. What I can tell you, unequivocally, and this is most important, is that our product comes first. Marketers around the world recognize that our product, especially at WWE, is strong. Our audience there is particularly unique. It’s young. It’s diverse. It’s hard to reach. It’s super passionate. Those marketers want access to our IP. We’re working to give them that access while maintaining the balance. As we commercially integrate, that revenue allows us to be more creative with our product and our superstars.

“Remember this: our audience is resilient. We don’t take it for granted. It doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want to do, absolutely not, quite the contrary. Currently, we are experiencing record attendance, record viewership, and record engagement.”

Elsewhere during the call, Shapiro commented on WrestleMania 42 ticket sales and creative criticism. You can find his full comments here.

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