WWE has been at the forefront of the media industry’s attempts to establish a business providing programming straight to viewers, without an intermediary like cable or satellite networks, while still maintaining lucrative TV deals. The company made all its content, including live events, available on the internet to paid subscribers in February 2014. Last year, WWE Network was the fifth-largest streaming service by subscriber volume, beating even HBO Now, according to Parks Associates.
Only Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Major League Baseball’s MLB.TV ranked higher.
“WWE was making a long-term bet that they could grow subscribership online and revenues online better than they were doing with pay TV,” said Brett Sappington, senior director of research overseeing entertainment services at Parks Associates, who spoke before the earnings were released. “It was a big risk, a big bet. It looks like it’s paying off.”
From the article "WWE Gets Streaming Boost As Wrestling Fans Subscribe" by Brooke Fox.
Netflix is also preparing to crackdown on illegal account sharing via new artificial intelligence software, which will be able to analyze which users are logged in and then flag shared accounts. Th...
According to a report published by Parks Associates, there is a dark horse in the streaming market: Amazon Prime Music. The company's senior analyst says, "Nearly one-half of streaming music subscribe...
Unsurprisingly, Amazon has never announced a specific figure for Prime Music listeners, although the company’s digital music boss Steve Boom said last year that “Prime Music has several million people...
According to research firm Parks Associates, smartphone owners spend more time per day listening to music on their device compared to other major entertainment activities, and 68% of smartphone owners...
