Stephanie McMahon spoke during the recent 2020 Forbes CMO Summit Virtual Series about WWE making the decision to continue to run shows during the pandemic when it first started in March
Here is what she had to say:
On having no choice but to adapt: “For WWE, we never stopped producing our content, and that was a very difficult decision in and of itself. First and foremost, we had to ensure the health and safety of our talents, crew, and employees. WrestleMania, for example, was supposed to be an event attended by 80,000 fans [at Raymond James Stadium] and instead became a two-day event at our Performance Center, which is essentially a warehouse where we develop and train our future stars. It was a stark contrast to what WrestleMania normally is.”
On how important the fans are: “We continue to produce 7 hours of live programming every week, and produce content for a myriad of channels and platforms. And we never stopped. What we found [through this experience]] is that our fans mean everything. They bring the energy, the excitement, and the spectacle, and without them, the shows are just not the same.”
On being unable to return to live events: “We had hoped to be back in the arenas during the fall but that wasn’t to be. So, we decided to double down and invest in the ThunderDome. Today, we have 1,000 virtual fans every show and nearly 100,000 fans who have signed up for this experience. These fans are live, they give us real-time reactions, and we see their faces. We also mix in additional audio, which we found very helpful. We bring that audio into the arena [besides piping in the noise for TV] because the performers need to hear the audience too, and feed off that crowd.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc
