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Stephanie McMahon was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal to discuss the business of WWE. During the interview, the WWE Chief Brand Officer spoke the WWE Universe and how fans can feedback to the company.
âThe audience has a tremendous impact on what we do; itâs 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. Weâre 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 theyâre all telling stories and amplifying them in the most effective ways for each channel. Even within social media, our content canât be one-size-fits-all.â
âBecause weâve 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 âWWE NXTâ 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, âThis is wrestling!â and âWomenâs wrestling!â The fans loved it, and they wanted us to do more. Simply âcancelingâ us wouldnât have necessarily elicited change. Sometimes it takes really listening to one another and coming up with solutions to elicit change.â
âThe 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 âTriple Hâ 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 canât be afraid to failâtry something, and if it doesnât work, thatâs 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 moneyâtheir most valuable resourcesâon your brand, they want to feel connected to it. Ask your consumers questions, and listen to them. Then thank them for helping you.â
âThey 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 theyâre resonating. Thereâs a whole âcosplayâ 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, weâre getting great at data collection. Where we can improve is in the analysis pieceâdetermining which data is most meaningful and pulling out themes to apply across our business.â
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