Vince McMahon On What WWE Can Do To Fix The Ratings, How Important Fans In The Crowd Are

WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon commented on the drop in WWE TV ratings and what he thinks they need to do to turn the ratings back around during WWE's Second Quarter 2020 earnings call with investors from this evening.

Curry Baker of Guggenheim Securities opened the investors Q&A portion of the call by asking Vince about the recent drop in ratings. Baker acknowledged that COVID-19 has impacted WWE production and the product itself, and asked Vince how concerned he is with the ratings issue, and what insight WWE officials have in regards to what is the cause of the decline. He also asked what strategy WWE has to turn the ratings around in the near-term, given coronavirus restraints, and the long-term.

As he has in the past, Vince reiterated how important the audience member is to the WWE product.

"As far as ratings are concerned, again, more than any other sport, surely our audience is a part of the program," Vince said. "It's audience interaction that always is a plus. Again it goes all the way back to the origination of this genre, in terms of 'yay and boo.' So, the audience is integral to our success and our television ratings. Again, because of the interaction, or lack thereof."

Vince continued and said some of what the company can do to help turn the ratings back around include creating more compelling characters, coming up with better storylines, and creating content that might be out of the ring, which focuses on Superstars and their stories.

"Not withstanding that, I think that we can have more compelling characters, better storylines, new characters coming to where we are right now, and more content that's not necessarily in the ring, but one that focuses on our personalities and their story outside of the ring," Vince said.

Stay tuned for more news from the WWE Q2 2020 call. You can click here for Vince's comments on Paul Heyman, Triple H and AEW ratings.