WWE has announced that WWE Network subscribers amount to 731,000 people, according to their release which you can view here. That's a rise of just 3,000 domestically and 28,000 internationally. Let's be frank here, those numbers are disastrous for the WWE. Straight away they responded by announcing major changes, including giving the entire month of November free to new subscribers. That's right, you'll get to see Survivor Series free if you give the WWE Network a chance. Even more significant is that you can now subscribe for $9.99 a month and cancel at any time. Basically, WWE are getting desperate. They wanted to hit a million subscribers by the end of the year. They had 700,000 subscribers at the end of July and have added barely anything in the grand scheme of things. Indeed, they're barely up from the initial 667,287 subscribers that they announced just after WrestleMania 30. Clearly people don't have as much interest in the WWE product as the company believed, not when they're getting three hours of free Raw every week. This is a big problem as the Network is losing money and hasn't even broke even for the WWE. For it to be worth it they need to top a million subscribers. 750,000 subsribers at $9.99 a month would be $90 million revenue, which is similar to pre-Network PPV revenue - however, it is way less profitable. The low increase despite the international rollout is probably down to a high number of overseas subscribers already existing. Why would a foreign viewer change when they've already got the US version which works out cheaper? The ease at which international viewers can get around the WWE Network's geography lock is laughable. The other reason for the low number is probably cancellations. Casual viewers want to see WrestleMania, but any other monthly event can feel like WWE just going through the motions. As for all the on-demand content, that's great, but how many people actually have time to watch more wrestling in their week? WWE have also fluffed it by not launching in the UK, which should be one of their very biggest markets. A January signed pay per view deal with Sky could be scuppering those plans which seemingly got held up for some reason. However, it will now be available in the UK on an over the top basis from November, according to WWE's latest press release. WWE will now be in panic mode and cost cuts will probably come. Obviously Brock Lesnar as a SummerSlam draw didn't really do that much good for numbers. Maybe his hefty contract will not be renewed when it comes up in April 2015.
