Consumer Products
We offer a wide variety of consumer products through a licensing program and an integrated direct sales effort.
Licensing
Our worldwide licensing program builds partnerships with companies around the globe to create products featuring our marks and logos, copyrighted works and characters in diverse categories, including: toys; video games; apparel; housewares; collectibles; sporting goods; books and more. WWE licensed products, created by our more than 160 licensees worldwide, are available at all major retailers, including Walmart, Kmart, Toys ‘R Us, Target, AAFES, GameStop, Tesco and Ackermans.
WWE video games have sold more than46.6 million units since 1999, generating more than $1.4 billion in revenues. "WWE SmackDown vs. RAW2009" has sold more than 4.8 million units since its release in November2008 and is available on SonyPlayStation3, PlayStation 2, PSP;Nintendo Wii and DS; and the Xbox 360 platforms. In addition, "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw2009"was also released on wireless handsets, simultaneous to the console and handheld releases.
WWE produces books including: biographies of our Superstars, Divas and Legends; historical anthologies; children’s books; fitness guides; fiction; photo journals; and many others. Nearly half (twenty-three) of our books have appeared on “The New York Times Best Seller List,” including the most recent addition, WWE Encyclopedia.
Home Video
WWE Home Video released seven new titles in the third quarter of 2009 and shipped approximately 846,000 units, including more than 150 catalog titles. According to Nielsen Video Scan (week ending 9/27/09), WWE has seven of the top 10 titles in the Sports charts in 2009, and has a commanding No. 1 position and 43.5 percent market share in the Sports category.
Outside the United States, our new home video productions and catalog titles are distributed through international licensing agreements in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Canada, Japan, India, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, Brunei, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile and the Middle East territories.
Magazine Publishing
WWE Magazine is a global men’s lifestyle publication with native language editions in Spain, Mexico, France, Germany and Greece. Every issue contains features, photos, exclusive interviews and access that fans won’t see on television.
In the U.S., WWE Magazine reaches more than 5.6 million readers each month (Mediamark Research Intelligence). At retail, WWE Magazine is ranked “top-five” in newsstand revenue for the men’s category, averaging more than $1 million in sales each issue.
WWE Kids magazine debuted in April 2008 and will publish nine issues in 2009. WWE Kids has licensed editions in the UK, and Germany.
Music
Music is and has always been an integral part of the entertainment experience linking the WWE brand to all media platforms including: television; film; radio; video games; live events; ring tones and other emerging digital technologies. In addition to composing, producing, and recording most of our music, including Superstar and Diva entrance themes, WWE Music Group licenses commercial music for use across a variety of cable television and pay-per-view programming needs.
WWE programming and WWE.com have music woven in from up-and-coming artists across the board, thus maintaining our commitment to developing artists and providing a platform for awareness to an audience they might not be exposed to through traditional record company marketing.
Rock icons Aerosmith contributed “You Gotta Move” as the official theme song for SummerSlam, successfully uniting two of the biggest entertainment brands in the world. WWE Music Group continues to partner with artists like AC/DC; Metallica; Guns ‘N Roses; Nickelback; Kid Rock; John Legend; Lynyrd Skynyrd; Staind; Goo Goo Dolls; and Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger tying in their music and songs to specific-pay-per-views and television specials.