WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon recently spoke with the Wall Street Journal about a number of different subjects, most notably how the company’s dedicated audience has a huge say in the direction of the product. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How the WWE universe does have an impact on the product:
“The audience has a tremendous impact on what we do; it’s one of the advantages of being live. We listen to the live audience and gather feedback through digital and social media to determine which story lines and performers are resonating, and why. We’re constantly looking at data across our content distribution ecosystem, which includes linear TV for our weekly shows and reality programming, our streaming WWE Network, and our digital and social channels. We have separate teams developing the content for those various platforms, and they’re all telling stories and amplifying them in the most effective ways for each channel. Even within social media, our content can’t be one-size-fits-all.”
How fans can share feedback with WWE:
“Because we’ve responded to fan feedback in the past, they knew they could have an impact and really help make this change happen. They had seen us making changes in our ‘WWE NXT’ program, which features up-and-coming performers and is akin to a minor league system. We had already started to recruit elite female athletes and train them the same way we train men. We started giving them the same amount of match time, exposure, and opportunities, and they started to steal the show. During those matches, the audience chanted, ‘This is wrestling!’ and ‘Women’s wrestling!’ The fans loved it, and they wanted us to do more. Simply ‘canceling’ us wouldn’t have necessarily elicited change. Sometimes it takes really listening to one another and coming up with solutions to elicit change.”
Opens up about WWE trying out new platforms:
“The bottom line is that we want to be where our audience is. We keep an eye on up-and-coming platforms and test them. For example, my husband (Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque) and I have gone on Clubhouse, an audio chat app, and experimented with that. Digital and social media have always allowed brands to test and learn quickly, but especially in this COVID era, brands are feeling the permission to do that even more. You can’t be afraid to fail—try something, and if it doesn’t work, that’s okay. Now more than ever, consumers want to be a part of your brand, and social media allows them to do that very easily. If they are willing to spend their time and money—their most valuable resources—on your brand, they want to feel connected to it. Ask your consumers questions, and listen to them. Then thank them for helping you.”
How data and analytics play a huge role on the product:
“They play a huge role. We currently have close to 60 data scientists working at WWE, constantly analyzing our data and synthesizing it. The team can, for example, track the impact a performer or story line has on viewership and social media activity and tie increases in engagement to content that was airing at specific times during one of our TV programs. Merchandise sales are also a key indicator of how popular our stars are and whether they’re resonating. There’s a whole “cosplay” side to our business, where people want to dress the part of their favorite performer, so merchandise sales are an important metric. WWE Network, our streaming content platform, also provides data points that are helpful. Like many brands, we’re getting great at data collection. Where we can improve is in the analysis piece—determining which data is most meaningful and pulling out themes to apply across our business.”
