TKO announces WWE & UFC Q3 revenue, Nick Khan comments

It was another strong quarter for WWE and UFC’s parent company TKO who announced on Wednesday Q3 revenues of $1.12 billion and net income of $106.8 million for the three-month period.

WWE revenue specifically increased by $75.8 million to $402.1 million year-over-year thanks to the two-night SummerSlam and the creation of Wrestlepalooza, site fees and all. Increased ticket revenue & hospitality were up $31.4 million with media rights, production & content up $21.5 million from a year ago.

For the first nine months of the year, WWE is up $250 million year-over-year — just shy of $1.35 billion.

During the Q&A portion, WWE head Nick Khan said they remain “bullish” on their ticket price increases, saying they were appropriate for the marketplace and that the scarcity in U.S. shows with both their house show reduction & international expansion has been “a good thing for overall gains.”

On the UFC side of the coin, revenue was down slightly at $325.2 million year-over-year, down from last year’s Q3 total of $354.9 million. That was attributed to a decrease in media rights, ticket sales & hospitality, and partnership/marketing revenue. That’s driven by one less “numbered event” and the fact last year’s Q3 featured UFC Noche from The Sphere in Las Vegas which had Riyadh Season as a sponsor.

WWE revenue (pre-EBIDA):

Q3 2025 revenueQ3 2024 revenueYear-over-year increase/decrease$402.1 million$326.3 million+$75.8 million

First nine months 2025 revenueFirst nine months 2024 revenueYear-over-year increase/decrease$1,349.8 billion$1,099.8 billion+$250 million

Specific WWE financial segments:

ItemQ3 2025 revenueQ3 2024 revenueYear-over-year increase/decreaseMedia rights, production & content$248.9 million$227.4 million+$21.5 millionLive events & hospitality$82.5 million$51.1 million+$31.4 millionPartnerships & marketing$39.9 million$21.7 million+$18.2 millionConsumer products licensing and other$30.8 million$26.1 million+$4.7 millionTotal Revenue$402.1 million$326.3 million+$75.8 million

Notes:

• The increase in live events and hospitality revenue was attributed to higher ticket sales revenue as well as an increase in site fees with both SummerSlam and Wrestlepalooza.
• The increase in media rights, production and content revenue was attributed to higher rights fees for PLEs due to two additional nights of programming as compared to the prior year period.
• The increase in partnerships and marketing revenue was primarily due to new partners and an increase in fees from renewals.
• The $325 million per year WWE is receiving from ESPN for domestic PLE rights was also confirmed during the call.
• There was positive toward Raw remaining in Netflix’s global top ten through the quarter in addition to SmackDown’s performance on USA during the quarter, specifically saying it led primetime cable ratings nine times in the period.
• TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer referenced net costs of ending the Peacock PLE deal early, but didn’t offer specifics as to how much those were.

Q4 outlook & beyond:

• It was noted that the financial benefits for the Netflix deal and ESPN domestic PLE rights agreement will be “significantly offset” by having two nights of PLEs this year vs. three last year with one PLE that took place in Saudi Arabia last year shifting to the first quarter of 2026 (Royal Rumble).
• On site fees, Schleimer said 2026 will be “the beneficiary” of three events from Saudi Arabia. TKO’s Mark Shapiro said a team of six were focused on “dialing for dollars” with site fees.
• To that end, Shapiro said “Raw has gained so much momentum” and said they were number one in 29-30 countries worldwide on Netflix. It’s unclear what he was referencing as that is not what the reported Tudum numbers are.
• After the financial success of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford boxing event, they expect to do three major scale boxing events per year.
• Shapiro said to expect announcements on two major deals with partners by the end of the year.
• Asked about initial reaction to WWE PLEs and performance on ESPN, Nick Khan said they are thrilled with the start of it and put over the launch on Wrestlepalooza. He said they are patient and is confident about ESPN growing into things. Shapiro talked about how so many people are eventually going to get ESPN Unlimited access for free once ESPN works out deals with distributors like YouTube TV.

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Josh Nason

Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He’s a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.

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