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March 9, 1999
Web posted at: 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT)

by Bernhard Warner

(IDG) -- With all the delicacy of a pile driver, the World Wrestling Federation is causing a stir with WWF.com. The site's success in building a loyal teen audience makes other major sports look like weaklings.

Between April 1998 and January 1999, WWF.com's traffic has increased by more than 300 percent. According to Media Metrix, WWF.com had 1.24 million unique visitors in January - that ranks second among sports league sites, trailing only NFL.com.

The site is obviously a heavyweight. In February, it served up 70 million pageviews. In the December quarter, WWF.com completed 30,000 orders for wrestling-related merchandise. After just 16 months of selling over the Internet, its Web sales are approaching the level of the company's catalog sales, reports Bob Mitchell, senior VP of new media for Titan Sports, the privately held Stamford, Conn.-based parent of the WWF.

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"We believe the Web is going to be the next network. It's going to rival TV," says Mitchell. In fact, WWF.com has begun selling Webcasts of some top-tier matches for $5.95. Over the next few months, it plans to give Web surfers a daily dose of original programming. It helps that, unlike more conventional sports leagues, the WWF has closer control over its talent, which makes it easy to add fresh programming.

After relaunching WWF.com in April, Titan Sports hired Interactive 8, a New York-based agency, to promote the site and turn it into a top online sports destination. With the recent increase in traffic has come improved success in selling advertising. Recent clients include MiningCo.com and Trading Direct.

Rene Jimenez, CEO of Internet Solution Partners, Trading Direct's online agency, says buying ads on WWF.com paid dividends. "Aggressive males like aggressive sports [such as] wrestling or football," says Jimenez. "And these people are trading online."

Jimenez says the banner-ad buys he's made on WWF.com have resulted in lower-than-usual customer-acquisition costs for Trade Direct, "well below [the industry norm of] $200 per person."

The site is brimming with camp, commerce and cleavage, no doubt appealing to pro wrestling's core audience of 12- to 24-year-old males. One WWF personality, Sable, gets prime real estate on the site as a Playboy cover girl; elsewhere, links to Bikini.com's swimsuit gallery appear.

Mitchell defends the content as being "fairly consistent" with the TV broadcasts and not too racy for the site's teenage viewers.

"In order to be successful, [WWF.com has] got to be so schlocky that it's camp," says Rich Luker, an adolescent psychologist and the founder of ESPN Chilton Sports Poll. "Or else it's got to be so technologically advanced, so hot, that it draws the bugs to the light."

Judging by the site's surging traffic, the audience thinks it's both.