The Royal Rumble event saw Applebee’s sponsor the countdown clock, and Mountain Dew Pitch Black got its own match. WrestleMania will potentially see a cross-branded match as well, and fans might see a lot more.
During WWE’s 4th Quarter earnings call, company CEO Nick Khan said that WWE is looking to take a “deep dive” into making money off more aspects of the show, like the ramp and ring apron, that haven’t historically been used to rake in cash.
Yes, to your question about monetizing the ring assets. It’s something we’re taking a deep dive into now and that we want to do. In terms of what’s driven it, I think it all started with Stephanie McMahon and changing the culture of our sales group, from changing from a ‘maybe’ to a ‘yes,’ so when Mountain Dew and Pepsi pitched us the idea of sponsoring a match, I think it was done, was ‘absolutely we’ll do it,’ and then a conversation with Triple H, our head of creative, about ‘hey, we can probably do this, right?’ Which Triple H and our creative team made every accommodation to get it done.”
“I think that’s what’s driving it, in addition of going into higher levels for each of these potential companies.”
Nick Khan
We’ll have to see what happens in the future, but it would probably be a good idea to get use to advertising during WWE programming.
H/T Ringside News
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