Stephanie McMahon took part in Forbes CMO Summit Virtual Series to talk all things WWE.
During the appearance, the WWE Chief Brand Officer talked about how the company’s ratings fell because of the COVID-19 pandemic. McMahon also confirmed that WWE had hoped to have fans back in attendance at their shows this fall, but that didn’t happen.
“And without them [the fans], it’s just not the same. Our ratings fell off. We tried bringing in our developmental talent to see if that would help in terms of some type of audience.
It just wasn’t enough, and ultimately we had hoped to be back in arenas in the Fall but when we realized that wasn’t gonna happen, we doubled-down and invested with a new partner called The Famous Group and we now have nearly one thousand virtual fans.”
It had been reported several months ago that WWE had hoped to have fans back at shows way back in July. That hope had been pushed back for a few months until WWE decided to hold off on the idea.
There have been various reports about WWE moving WrestleMania 37 from California to Florida due to the states being different regarding COVID-19 protocols.
