What Does 667,287 Subscribers Mean For WWE Network?

WWE is also planning the significant international launch of the WWE Network in the Phase II countries: UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Nordics. Timing hasn€™t been announced beyond the vague €œend of 2014/early 2015€. The break-even scenario for this launch (international WWE Network) is an additional 250,000 annual subscribers. Knowing that a percentage of the international hardcore fans €œsnuck in€ to the US WWE Network launch, will we see a tepid rollout? (Two independent launch day surveys suggested that above 10% of first-day WWE Network signups may have come from non-US customers.) While the total number of non-US customers using the domestic WWE Network is likely a small percentage (probably between 1%-5%), it€™s still likely to impact international growth since those customers represent the most hardcore and technologically sophisticated fans. Right now, those international fans are prematurely subsidizing the US launch. Keep in mind - the bulk of WWE€™s financial success rests with domestic Television Rights €“ not with the first year of the WWE Network. If the WWE manages to double (or triple) their domestic TV rights, they€™ll be looking at hundred(s) of millions in added revenue and huge profit potential. Right now, the best they could realistically hope for is that the WWE Network won€™t be a huge money-loser in 2014. (That was always how I imagined it so I can€™t categorize today€™s numbers as some kind of a huge surprise. In some ways I think expectactions grew and grew based on the media reports on WWE which often have incorporated the WWE narrative as if it was pure fact.) And WWE has shown their willingness to tolerate certain money-losing ventures (WWE Studios, for instance) should it fit into the larger WWE as an entertainment conglomerate scheme.