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WWE Network Update

Word is starting to trickle out on Twitter... I will try to update this post with the news as it comes out.

- Subscriber numbers at 700,000 at end of Q2 (6/30)
- Loss of $14.5M for Q2
- New offer: $19.99 if you want to just sign up for the month
- WWE Network coming to Canada, Australia, NZ, Spain and a lot more countries on 8/12
- WWE Network coming to UK in October
- WWE announced 10 year deal with Rogers for Raw & SD



That new offer makes sense to me, you can grab the people that just want to sign up to see a specific special event and gives a break to those that commit.

Comments

  1. Ooof. That sounds rough.

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  2. 700,000!!


    Holy Shit, that's astoundingly bad. So they added only 30,000 subs since Wrestlemania? Or did they cook the numbers previously adding in trials? $14.5 Million loss in a Wrestlemania quarter on top of the $8 million in Q1.


    On the plus side yay, finally available in Canada and in less than 2 weeks or do you mean December 8th?

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  3. Doesn't surprise me one bit about the # increase. If you were going to get it, it would have been at wrestlemania. Bigger number for the company is the one 3 months from now.

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  4. So only 33k signed up since mania!!!!! Oh man that's bad

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  5. I'll be interested to see how much they retail it for when it comes to the UK. If it's £9.99 or less then they may be onto something. If it's more, it's not happening. This is going by the usual ("let's sell our product in the UK and just change the currency symbol, fuck those guys!) USD->GBP conversion rate.

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  6. Being at 22.5 million in losses at this point is no biggie because they said that they'd lose 50 M's in year one and Vince is slashing cuts. But damn, those network sub #'s...

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  7. I still don't understand why the network is not available in non-us countries right now. It's the same internet and network. What makes Canada, or the UK different?

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  8. They probably cooked them as much as they could get away with

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  9. They need to add more content, the attitude era stuff preferably to grab those fans.

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  10. The people that live there suck
    USA USA USA USA USA USA

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  11. WWE need to accept that this is a long term project... it can be successful but they can't panic and go backwards

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  12. I was worried for a minute the first time I read the $19.95/month fee. But I'm in it for the long haul (at least through the end of this first year), so I'm good.
    They are always promoting the Network on RAW & SmackDown, but not many specifics. We all know the goodness that is NXT, but Joe Casual isn't aware. Why not take a 2-4 minute block every Monday night to highlight what happened on NXT, and what's coming up? Just like the RAW Rebound or whatever it's called. Do it every week, not just when there is a live special coming up.
    As much as we love the Network, WWE really needs to take advantage of the opportunity they have here. Think outside the box. There is really no excuse. They are all in now, so they might as well go for it.

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  13. I agree. Look at how many losing quarters amazon had including this past one. They will be around for a long time, but new things will have growing pains.

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  14. They are always promoting the Network on RAW & SmackDown, but not many shows specifically. We all know the goodness that is NXT, but Joe Casual isn't aware. Why not take a 2-4 minute block every Monday night to highlight what happened on NXT, and what's coming up? Just like the RAW Rebound or whatever it's called. Do it every week, not just when there is a live special coming up.

    As much as we love the Network, WWE really needs to take advantage of the opportunity they have here. Think outside the box. There is really no excuse. They are all in now, so they might as well go for it.

    I was worried for a minute the first time I read the $19.95/month fee. But I'm in it for the long haul (at least through the end of this first year), so I'm good.

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  15. I'm pretty sure the WWE accepts it...the IWC needs to accept it instead of thinking the company is going to go belly-up because of it.


    Although there's no doubting there's a struggle out of the gate - probably more of one than they thought there would be.

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  16. NXT is literally the only thing on the Network and on TV here though.


    New Raw's & Smackdown's dont go up on the network for what a month or so? If that doesn't bother USA & SyFy i can't imagine Sportsnet giving a shit.

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  17. Yep, it is a brand new medium for the most part... they are out ahead of the trend, need to just forge ahead.

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  18. It's so disappointing that the WWE finally comes out with something awesome for hardcore fans and it doesn't really succeed the way everyone hoped. The worst part is it will discourage them from trying anything outside the status quo down the road.


    There's definitely things they could have done to improve the launch and tweak things going forward, but I think it's a way better program than anyone was initially expecting when they were trying to get on cable, and it's something I was really hoping would succeed.

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  19. Biggest mistake at launch was announcing it and not allowing people to sign up right away.

    The buzz was HUGE when they first put the news out, and had already died down/backlash had begun by the time the sign up period started.

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  20. Gotta think the international expansion will give them a nice boost, particularly given the passion of the wrestling fanbase in a lot of those countries.


    I don't know enough about the technology to understand what the incremental costs of running the network internationally are, but I have to think they'll see their profit margin increase on those subscriptions...

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  21. With WWE losing money, does this mean no more US Senate runs for Linda?

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  22. Hey, they have my money until they don't have a Network anymore. And I'm sure I'm not the only one in this category.

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  23. Yeah, but Canadian PPV providers (are there even more than one?) are the bigger concern.

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  24. Just saw a note that the 700K is as of 6/30 so doesn't include any new subscriptions in July.

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  25. If the price is dearer than those that are 'illegally' getting it now then I reckon they'll just get a big fuck you. It's gotta be similarly priced. I'd be interested in £6-7 a month but no more than that. Then again I suppose they have to consider the impact it will have on Sky Box Office who won't be happy.

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  26. Again if they decided to slowly? kill PPV in the states with the introduction of the Network why would they care about what Shaw Cable thinks?


    Ah who cares, i'll be signing up. Will they break the $10 barrier here i wonder or keep it at $9.99 effectively meaning it's cheaper here.

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  27. Damn, RainbowSherbert guessed 700,001.

    Get that man to a casino, stat!

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  28. Through July - 700,032.

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  29. Could that mean the number as of today is lower, so WWE announced the higher number from the end of last month?

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  30. The WWE released their 2014 Q2 earnings reports today, and as previously reported the company announced 700,000 WWE Network subscribers. Revenues from the Company's Media division increased 7% to $97.7 million, which was due to the WWE Network and increased television licensing fees. The WWE Network, PPV and video on demand generated revenue of $43.3 million.

    By itself, the WWE Network generated $19.4 million in subscription revenue based on an average of 665,000 paid subscribers over the quarter at a price of $9.99 per month. Network subscription revenue of $19.4 million was partially offset by a $13.2 million decline in PPV. PPV revenue overall declined by 36% to $23.8 million. Here is how the PPVs performed in Q2 2014…

    WrestleMania 30: 690,000 (down 349,000 from 2013)

    Extreme Rules: 108,000 (down 123,000 from 2013)

    WWE Payback: 67,000 (down 119,000 from 2012)

    Money in the Bank: 122,000 (MITB did not take place in Q2 of 2013)

    Overall Buys For Q2 2014: 1,059,000 (down 492,000 from 2013)

    Read more at http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/330557/WWE-Financials:-Did-the-WWE-Network-Off-Set-The-Loss-of-PPV?.htm#uSClovU72Sbva06h.99

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  31. Of course not, why would it?


    This is the 2nd quarter results, not the oh my god! hold on to your butts 3rd quarter numbers.

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  32. Not sure because the six month commitment ends in August

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  33. That actually is solid for MITB I think.

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  34. "Here's what you're missing on the WWE Network"?

    That's a brilliant idea.

    And the one month $19.95 fee isn't a bad idea. It's still a steal for those who want to order it just for the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania.

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  35. removing MITB, it is down 614,000 ppvs for second quarter or roughly 40% of total ppvs

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  36. No, again the WWE's fiscal year is tied to the calendar year, so these Q2 results are from April.1 - June.30.


    Plus how could subs go down when the initial commitment isn't even due yet?

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  37. Mania was down 349k, but WWE had twice as many Network subscribers.

    How does that factor in profit-wise? I'm guessing not that good.

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  38. That makes more sense. Thanks!

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  39. PPV in Canada is still proportionally much bigger than in the US. Not to mention they'd likely be throwing away money made off theater showings and such as well. But I would think that legally they can't sign all these deals with Viewer's Choice and whatnot and then just ignore them because they want to do the Network.

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  40. no these are quarterly numbers, you post through June.

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  41. My name is zanatude, and I approve this snark.

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  42. Yeah, isn't it only a 40-50K difference from normal PPV-only numbers?

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  43. Now if they had some spectacular month in July and added another 100K subs then i'd bet good money they would have sneaked that into todays announcement.


    So it's a good bet as of TODAY they probably have like 705,000 subs or something equally non news worthy.

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  44. I wonder what 700k is rounded up from too. Has the full # shown up yet

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  45. Maybe, but there might be decent international penetration already with people finding technical ways around the Network. Also, broadband caps in some European countries could make expansion numbers somewhat disappointing. The Internet infrastructure in Mexico and India is also not really up to par with other developed countries.

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  46. MikeyMike, WitnessJuly 31, 2014 at 7:19 AM

    That probably isn't going to change very much lol

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  47. All that hype, all those months, and they only increased subscriptions by 4.5%. Not surprising at all that they were gonna cap out at 700k, but still, what an embarrassment.
    And now, we the hardcore fans get to deal with Defensive Vince, and all the horrible, insulting, bewildering, petty, & petulant ways he chooses to show his butthurt. Joy.

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  48. Stick a fork in Daniel Bryan. He's done!

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  49. The UK price plan really needs to be in line with Netflix (£5.99) or thereabouts, but hey this is rip-off UK so expect £14.99 a month with an 18 month contract.

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  50. Nerds who are using VPN's to access the Network internationally might number in the hundreds at best.

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  51. So they have half the subs they needed domestically. I kind of think this it for them too. Are there really 700k wwe fans just waiting for something else to sign up for the network? And since I autorenwed can't I get some wcw weekly TV?

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  52. Does a service like Netflix exist outside North America? If not, is it because of broadband/infrastructure issues? If it does, how do they handle said issues?

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  53. But didn't they just sign a new deal with Sky recently? Knowing how Sky operate it wouldn't surprise me if WWE Network UK excluded PPVs.

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  54. Stranger in the AlpsJuly 31, 2014 at 7:22 AM

    Unless WWE releases a statement that says the Network was a failure and being shut down, or they put up an Out of Business sign on Titan Towers, I'm not worried. I continue to enjoy the very concept that has taken food off the table of many men's families.

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  55. I think it might be a tad higher. Not saying it's a large pool, but international PPV buys were down a little from WrestleMania and people are attributing part of that to people already doing the Network.

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  56. Probably worse because that's counting Intl' buys

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  57. We can only hope.

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