WWE delivers most viewed SummerSlam ever
August 24, 2021
By Nik Roseveare
Following a weekend of record-setting metrics, WWE delivered the most-viewed and highest-grossing SummerSlam PPV in the company’s history.
The 34th SummerSlam event took place on August 21st at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in front of a capacity crowd, and saw both Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar make their returns after long absences.
Performance highlights include:
– More people watched the event live across Peacock and WWE Network than any other SummerSlam in the company’s history; The seven-figure global audience marked a 55 per cent increase over 2020 and a 29 per cent increase over 2019.
– The sell-out crowd of 51,326 broke SummerSlam records for indoor attendance and gate receipts.
– SummerSlam set a new sponsorship record, growing by 25 per cent vs 2019 and 18 per cent vs 2020.
– With more than four million views, Lesnar’s return became WWE’s most-watched Instagram video of all-time – surpassing the video of John Cena’s return at the Money In The Bank PPV on July 18th. In total, SummerSlam videos generated more than one billion views across all WWE social platforms during the week.
WWE’s chief brand officer, Stephanie McMahon, commented: “SummerSlam, emanating from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas with a record-breaking crowd of over 51,000 fans. More people watched Saturday’s event live across Peacock and WWE Network than any other SummerSlam in our company’s history, marking a 55 per cent increase over 2020. SummerSlam also trended #1 worldwide, ahead of Pacquiao vs Ugas and NFL preseason football. Leading up to the event new multi-year partnership announcements were made, bringing WWE together with Spotify, Bill Simmons and The Ringer to launch an exclusive audio network, and MLB to offer sports fans team-inspired WWE Championship replica titles and accessories. In addition, WWE partnered with Bitski to drop WWE’s second edition of NFTs inspired by WWE Superstar John Cena. Thank you to our friends and partners who made this success possible.”