WWE� AND USA NETWORK BASK IN POP-CULTURE GLORY
NEW YORK - March 28, 2007 � Since Monday Night RAW� has returned to USA Network, the program has helped USA become #1 in basic cable prime across all demographics and brought new, younger viewers to the network. In 2006, RAW's first full year back on USA, the show averaged a better household rating (4.04) than in three previous years on Spike TV. RAW has also delivered 13% more P18-34 (1.4 million) and 9% more P18-49 (2.6 million) than Spike had the previous two years. On the February 26, 2007 broadcast of RAW, more than six million viewers tuned into USA Network for the show, the largest number since 2002.
WWE has been a significant part of the pop-culture scene in the past year, which has also led to an increase in television ratings, online traffic, revenue and new business opportunities. WWE, a NYSE company, reported total revenues of $415.3 million in 2006. The year also included the release of their first two major theatrical movies "See No Evil," starring WWE Superstar Kane� and "The Marine," starring WWE Champion John Cena�. WWE saw DVD sales rise 52% in 2006. Of the 30 new titles WWE Home Video released in 2006, ten debuted at #1 on the sports DVD charts.
WWE RETURNS TO POP-CULTURE MAINSTREAM
� WWE rose to the heights of its popularity while on USA Network during the mid-1990's and early 21st century, then saw a pop-culture drop-off while on Spike TV. Monday Night RAW returned home to USA in October of 2005 and since then has come back with a vengeance to mainstream pop-culture. In 2007 to date, RAW is averaging a household rating of 4.01, with 2.8 million in P18-49, 1.5 million in P18-34 and 2.5 million in P25-54.
� On network television within the past year, WWE Superstars such as John Cena�, Triple H�, Edge�, Stone Cold Steve Austin�, Candice Michelle�, Mick Foley� and others have appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The TODAY Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel Live, MadTV and many others. In the print media, there have been features and mentions in People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Us Weekly and OK! Magazine.
� WWE's mainstream popularity is supported by leading web portal Yahoo!'s rankings which listed WWE as the second most searched item for 2006, outscoring such notables as Paris Hilton, American Idol, Jessica Simpson and Pamela Anderson. RAW has featured appearances by Donald Trump, Kevin Federline, The Rock� (former WWE Champion turned movie star), and the cast of MTV's Jackass as well as professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.
� WWE is a leader in the digital arena as their primary website WWE.com attracted an average of 15.7 million unique visitors worldwide per month in 2006 who viewed more than 46 million video streams per month. WWE produces a pay-per-view called "Cyber Sunday�" in which the fans pick the matches via on-line voting through WWE.com. More than 14.6 million votes were cast by fans for this past year's "Cyber Sunday."
� WWE is also a live-event company presenting Monday Night RAW, SmackDown�, and ECW�: Extreme Championship Wrestling� in a different city every week. WWE's largest annual event is WrestleMania�, to be held this year at Detroit's Ford Field. WrestleMania 23 has an expected attendance of more than 75,000 and has already grossed more than five million in box office sales. Fans from 23 countries, all 50 U.S. states and nine Canadian provinces will attend WrestleMania. WWE's live events attendance increased 21% in 2006. Additionally, WWE presented more than 60 live events outside the United States in Canada, Europe, South America and Asia, entertaining more than 2 million fans.
� The consumer products and licensing business of WWE has also seen growth, bringing in revenue of $95 million in 2006. WWE has licensing agreements with the biggest retailers in the world including Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Toys R Us and the Army Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).
� WWE saw DVD sales rise 52% in 2006. Of the 30 new titles WWE Home Video released in 2006, 10 debuted at No. 1 on the sports DVD charts.
About USA Network
USA NETWORK is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports and entertainment events, off-net television shows, and blockbuster theatrical films. The #1 basic cable network across the board for 2006, USA Network is seen in 90 million U.S. homes. The USA Network Web site is located at www.usanetwork.com. Characters Welcome.
USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.
Trademarks: All World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, and logos are the exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
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