WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon recently spoke with Bloomberg Business Sports about all things pro-wrestling, including the WWE’s strategy in bringing in non-wrestling personalities and how they own all of their own I.P. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How WWE owns all of their IP and their goal to create stars:
WWE is a bit different than other leagues and properties. We own all the intellectual properties, because we create them. So it’s very different from how the leagues operate. We have a whole pop culture strategy outside of our business. We cast our superstars outside of WWE programming; whether that’s partnership endorsements, cameos, roles in Hollywood films, red carpets, you name it. The goal is to get our stars out there as much as possible.
Why they try to introduce non-wrestling personalities in their programming:
We recognize there’s a huge percentage of the population that isn’t WWE fans that we want to attract. At the same time we also want to get athletes, pop culture influencers and celebrities into our programming for the same reason. The rising tide really raises all boats in terms of audience and growth.
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)