This week ESPN reporter Gus Ramsey wrote on Twitter that the WWE Wrestlemania 28 Buyrate|PPV Buys number was 1.9 millions. When asked further on Twitter, Gus clarify that he had heard it from some people within WWE and could not confirm the numbers.
Or was Gus Ramsey part of a publicity stunt? Whether he was an willing participant of this “news leak” will likely never be known.
What is known is that this story about a possible record breaking Wrestlemania 28 Buyrate|PPV Buys will gather mainstream media coverage that WWE craves.
Is it possible that the 1.9 millions numbers is real? I would say it is very unlikely given that the final Raw before Wrestlemania 28 pulled a 3.0 rating number. The next Raw after Wrestlemania 28 did a 3.4 rating number.
With roughly the same numbers of viewers for the TV shows leading up to the event as last year, it would be a huge surprise if the PPV did almost double the numbers from Wrestlemania 27.
Update: – According to first week data from cable companies about the WrestleMania 28 PPV buys, the numbers are around 1,100,000 (1.1 million). If these ppv buyrates numbers are true, it would be after Wrestlemania 23 and 27 of the 3rd best-selling WWE PPV of all times. It is also said that WWE officials had been expecting around 1 Millions PPV buyrates.
Update #2 – During WWE Raw taping in London England on April 16, it was announced that Wrestlemania 28 buyrate was 1.3 Millions PPV buys. On the same day, The Rock Twitter account wrote that Wrestlemania 28 had set all time WWE PPV Buys records, meaning it had surpassed the 1.2 Million record of Wrestlemania 23.
With the PPV selling for $55 for standard defintion and $65 for USA fans, WWE should have an estimated 39 Millions PPV revenues from the event based on the rumored 600,000 + buys from the United States alone. Keep in mind WWE is said to share the revenues with cable companies at around 50/50 ratios.
Given that the Rock returned for his first singles match in 8 years and the heavy usage of social media for the event, this 1.1 Million PPV number must be considered somewhat of a disappointing number for Vince Mcmahon and his company.
Also it is known that WWE PPV numbers are not confirmed until a few months from the events due to the timeframe needed to collect the data from several cable operators. In fact, the final WWE Wrestlemania 28 Buyrate|PPV Buys are not official unless released in reports from WWE corporate meetings.
Keep in mind that the Wrestlemania 23 Buyrates was 1.2 Million, that is the highest grossing PPV buys for any Wrestlemania ever. The success was attributed to media celebrity Donald Trump taking part in the PPV’s Battle of the Billionaire.
If the 1.9 million PPV buys for Wrestlemania 2012 is true, then it would break another record for WWE. The event was headlined by Hollywood actor Dwayne The Rock Johnson vs John Cena Once In A Lifetime match.
WWE WrestleMania 28 has broken several records again. As the Miami Herald reported, 8.9 million were recorded in live attendance gross revenue, this is the highest amount that the WWE has ever made in history at a live event.
In addition, another record is that WWE achieve the biggest revenue for an event in Miami. The previous record was at a U2 concert in July 2011 with about 7.5 million gross revenue. The WWE has improved on their own record set in 2010, when WrestleMania 25 generated more than 7.2 million gross revenue in live attendance.
Furthermore, the all-time attendance record at Sun Life Stadium was also broken with Wrestlemania 28. According to WWE, there were 78.363 spectators in the arena.
Previously the record was the BCS national championship game of 2005 which attracted 77.912 spectators for the final game between the USC Trojans and the Oklahoma Sooners.