WWE has quite a lot of fans.
On Thursday, June 8, The Hollywood Reporter published a post that dove into the current fanbase that WWE holds. According to a Trends Sports Poll, WWE set a new record in 2022, as they reached a figure of having 89.9 million fans. This was up from 2021, when the company recorded a fan figure of 85.1 million, which was also a record high at the time.
The all time high in fans comes at a crucial time for WWE, as they are about to enter negations for new media rights deals for Raw and SmackDown.
WWE CEO Nick Khan spoke about the the current situation that WWE is in in the piece with The Hollywood Reporter, noting that WWE could split their content among a number of buyers in the marketplace.
"We are always in touch with all of the buyers in the marketplace about what they are looking for. If you look at the NBA situation, my belief is the NBA is going to split the rights which are now split two-ways between Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney. They could split them four to five ways. And we think that is good for everybody. We followed the NBA’s playbook five years ago in wanting to not have one exclusive partner for Raw and SmackDown and to split them two ways. Now we are looking at the marketplace in its totality and thinking there might be more options than even that.”
Nick Khan has previously said that WWE could be open to expanding SmackDown to three hours, just like they did with Monday Night Raw back in 2012. Fans can learn more here.
Fightful will have full coverage of SmackDown on Friday beginning at 8 p.m. EST.
Special thanks to The Hollywood Reporter for the quote(s).
