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Mike Reynolds
Pay-per-view event revenue, despite a major second-quarter uptick, fell 30% during the first half of 2000, according to a report from Showtime Event Television.
The SET summary estimates that 28 boxing, wrestling, music, ring sports and other events combined to generate $124.8 million during the second quarter, a 106% surge from second quarter 1999.
The second-quarter amelioration, though, could not overcome a marked fall-off in the year's first quarter, resulting in a 30% drop in PPV event revenue to $186.4 million over the first six months of 2000. This compares with $267.1 million during the corresponding year-earlier period.
Led by the World Wrestling Federation's Wrestlemania 2000 on April 2 and King of the Ring (June 25), the wrestling category registered a 35% gain in revenues to $75.7 million in the second quarter.
Boxing punched a 1,538% leap to $45.7 million behind the Oscar De La Hoya/Shane Mosley and Lennox Lewis/Michael Grant cards on June 17 and April 29, respectively.
However, both of the principal event categories were off when weighed against the first six months of the year. During that time period, 20 wrestling events garnered $123.4 million, down 12% from the prior-year period.
Boxing, meanwhile, declined 54% to $54.9 million in the wake of three big bouts in the first quarter of 1999 - Lewis/Evander Holyfield, De La Hoya/Ike Quartey and Mike Tyson/Franz Botha.
Boxing's first-half total missed out on a potentially big payday when SET's negotiations broke down with PPV network In Demand for Mike Tyson/Lou Savarese. The fight eventually migrated to the Showtime premium channel.
"It has been a good year for wrestling; it's been carrying the PPV event industry. There were some bigger boxing matches last year," says SET EVP/GM Mark Greenberg, who also expressed disappointment with the industry's performance, considering its expanded reach into more addressable cable and satellite homes.
"The industry is down 20% in the number of events from 66 in the first half of 1999 to only 55 this year. We're not seeing that many concerts or a major expansion into other genres."
He says suppliers are somewhat reluctant to engage in PPV for economic reasons: "It's difficult to invest big dollars and execute deals that may not pay off. Suppliers are becoming more risk-adverse."
Greenberg mentions that the industry's early days with boxing were underwritten by guarantees from which operators eventually built their businesses.
At the same time, Greenberg is encouraged by the upcoming premiere of the Broadway Television Network and its presentation of Smokey Joe's Cafe The Songs of Leiber and Stoller on Sept. 10.
For its part, SET should soon announce a Kiss concert that will air in late September or early October.
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