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.
In fact, since 2013, the percentage of broadband households in the nation using only antennas to watch linear TV has jumped from 9 percent to 15 percent, according to data released this month by Parks...
Pay-TV services are showing their age as subscribership continues to fall, leading to a projected 76.7 million subscriber decrease by 2024, according to a report by Parks Associates. This drop wou...
Amazon also offers transactional (both purchase and rental) and subscription streaming through Amazon Prime Video, continuing to forge partnerships with cablers such as Cox, which added the service to...
According to Parks Associates, it only gets worse from here. In its 2022 “OTT Streaming Trends to Watch” white paper, their data shows that the average churn rate was 40% in 2020. Right now, the avera...
