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Best things to watch on the network?


Jimmy Boy

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This number is exactly that, just a number. Until we have other figures it is impossibly to judge its success. They will only know what the network is and its potential when the Wrestlemania number comes in. It could be that all of the casual watchers who buy WM still just bought it in the conventional way and they could still score a good number there. Also, when is this number from? Does that include all of the late sign ups and sign ups today wanting to watch the replays after hearing Taker lost etc?

 

I think they should be satisfied with it, taking the Network internationally will get them over 1 million I believe. I think this is proof that the Network isnt quite what I and I imagine others had in mind though. Its clearly a product aimed at the hardcore, older fan. I dont think theyve really done enough yet to grab the younger audience and make them sign up. They clearly thought including all of the PPVs would have done this but I think they need to do a lot more as far as original content to do it.

 

So are you trying to say that a large number of people would say "Holy Shit! The Undertaker lost! I must get the Network!!". There may be a small percentage do that (and by that I mean miniscule) but your average fan is not going to make a six month commitment based on the Undertaker losing in what is widly considered to be a very poor match!

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Listening to the likes of Meltzer, a lot of people in WWE expected a much bigger number. WWE aren't daft enough to sell it as a failure, but they certainly expected better.

 

Alvarez is saying they're planning on raising the price by a couple of dollars next year.

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Is the Infamous Gimmicks episode of Countdown not archived yet? I started watching it after WrestleMania, but it doesn't show up on the list of episodes and searching for it has a result with a Media Error: Video not available error. Boogeyman's in it!

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Nah, it was billed as a "sneek peak". They did that on launch day as well. I guess they figure it's worth doing that with the original programming on occasions they know they'll have a particularly big audience.

 

Another great Mookieghana piece: http://whatculture.com/wwe/reaction-wwe-ne...-real-story.php

 

Short version: the mainstream media are reporting it as "667,000 subscribers after just six weeks, so at this pace a million is a piece of piss", not understanding that WrestleMania was the single biggest reason somebody would get the network.

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This number is exactly that, just a number. Until we have other figures it is impossibly to judge its success.

Well, we have the figures for how much the stock fell after they announced the number.

 

True, we also saw it recovered a bit. We can also see that before the WWE announced the network their stock was worth a little over $16, its still worth a little over $22 dollars. Thats still a huge increase, just not an all time high like it was. It peaked too much, investors got it wrong.

 

I think they should be satisfied with it, taking the Network internationally will get them over 1 million I believe.

 

They wanted that domestic, though.

 

True, but when they made that ballsy prediction they didnt really know what the Network was, it was the first of its kind in Wrestling and they now have a better idea of who their market is. I still think its a decent number that privately they'd be happy with. They now need to get the strategy right to add to it and retain it, thats always going to be the hard bit. They'll also have a better idea once the Wrestlemania buys are in. If that is anywhere near 400-500k then that Network number already looks a lot better.

 

This number is exactly that, just a number. Until we have other figures it is impossibly to judge its success. They will only know what the network is and its potential when the Wrestlemania number comes in. It could be that all of the casual watchers who buy WM still just bought it in the conventional way and they could still score a good number there. Also, when is this number from? Does that include all of the late sign ups and sign ups today wanting to watch the replays after hearing Taker lost etc?

 

I think they should be satisfied with it, taking the Network internationally will get them over 1 million I believe. I think this is proof that the Network isnt quite what I and I imagine others had in mind though. Its clearly a product aimed at the hardcore, older fan. I dont think theyve really done enough yet to grab the younger audience and make them sign up. They clearly thought including all of the PPVs would have done this but I think they need to do a lot more as far as original content to do it.

 

So are you trying to say that a large number of people would say "Holy Shit! The Undertaker lost! I must get the Network!!". There may be a small percentage do that (and by that I mean miniscule) but your average fan is not going to make a six month commitment based on the Undertaker losing in what is widly considered to be a very poor match!

 

Not a large number but there will be a number of after timers who are buying the network this week based on reviews of it being the best Mania for years. Not huge, but some. I still dont know when that number is taken from, after WM? Before it started? The morning after? The morning of it? If it was from anytime before then there would obviously have been additional buyers late on.

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I thought many of you would find this interesting:

 

http://cdn3.whatculture.com/wp-content/upl..._financials.png

 

It's a breakdown of the financials needed for the WWE network. In a nutshell.....

 

- The network costs $55 million a year to run and maintain.

- They have listed the estimated cannibalization (i.e. lost money from other areas) as up to $60 million a year.

- Therefore they need $105 million a year to break even (1 million subscribers).

 

In fact here's the full article which also includes estimated international demand. It's an interesting read: http://whatculture.com/wwe/667287-subscrib...wwe-network.php

Edited by andrew "the ref" coyne
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Great article, thanks for posting.

 

The 'cannibalization' estimate really is a finger in the air job though. We wont know the true figure until atleast next year when the full years figures are out. I disagree with their figure on a number of counts. Originally I thought the network would have a huge hit on future DVD sales but now im unsure. The way they are slowly rolling ou stuff means they should get away with releasing new DVDs and because it will take so long to reach the Network people will still be buying them as they do.

 

As I said, the next big number is the Wrestlemania buyrate, if thats a good number then they've hacked up.

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I've just finished watching, "Journey to Wrestlemania." It's outstanding. Highly, highly recommended. It's essentially a Daniel Bryan career retrospective interspersed with clips of his Wrestlemania week leading up to the title win. I loved it. He comes across as the nicest, most down to earth guy in the world. The backstage clips of him on what is the biggest night of his career are also seriously cool.

 

It's almost a shame (if unsurprising) that the Network ended up doing so average in terms of success because as far as the content and service it provides, particularly this past week, it's been absolutely incredible. I'm blown away.

Edited by Supremo
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Yeah, the documentary is great. I wish they'd been able to do a similar one on the end of the streak, but between Undertaker protecting the character and them keeping the results under wraps, that wouldn't have worked.

 

Tip for anyone looking for stuff: there are two new sub-sections in the "Originals" area, one for "Hall of Fame" and one for "Original Specials" which has the Journey to WrestleMania and the Legends of WrestleMania.

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This Network just keeps on delivering, I've just watched this week's post-RAW show and it's great. Once RAW goes off the air Renee Young gets in the ring to interview The Shield and Daniel Bryan. It's boss. First The Shield cut a quick fun promo, punctuated with Roman Reigns giving Renee Young a wink Dave Batista would be impressed with, then Daniel Bryan gets genuinely choked up thanking this fans for everything that lead to Mania.

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