cjh
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 6,559
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Post by cjh on Oct 30, 2014 8:11:55 GMT -5
731,000 total, up 4% (31,000) since last quarter. There was a gross subscriber addition of 286,000, meaning 255,000 canceled their subscriptions.
Thursday morning, WWE sent an e-mail to all Network subscribers, announcing the six-month commitment to the Network is being dropped. The ongoing price monthly would be $9.99, cancel anytime.
WWE profit/loss for July 1 - September 30 period: $5.9 million loss
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Post by Ganon83 on Oct 30, 2014 8:12:41 GMT -5
November is also free for new subscribers
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2014 8:13:23 GMT -5
And yet Canada is still f***ed for most of this.
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Oct 30, 2014 8:14:51 GMT -5
Something something they're about to die, am I right?
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Oct 30, 2014 8:16:57 GMT -5
Well, if the commitment is done, that means that there won't be a giant hiatus of subscribers every six months, and cancellations will be spread out throughout the year relatively evenly (except for those who subscribe for Mania and then cancel).
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Post by hossfan on Oct 30, 2014 8:31:30 GMT -5
If there is no more six month commitment, I wonder if the Network will even carry WrestleMania (at least live).
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Oct 30, 2014 8:35:57 GMT -5
If there is no more six month commitment, I wonder if the Network will even carry WrestleMania (at least live). Well, considering the Wrestlemania logo has the Play symbol in it, I assume it's not because they expect people to order it through their cable and satellite providers, if they still carry the shows. It's more likely that they may hike the price up during Mania week or something. But the show will be on the Network live in some fashion.
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Post by Gravedigger's Biscuits on Oct 30, 2014 8:44:32 GMT -5
This seems incredibly risky.
I'm sure there were some people who didn't subscribe because of the 6-month commitment but I'm sure there's just as many who wanted to get out of their subscription but couldn't until now.
Now people can just subscribe for say the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania and then cancel.
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Post by Slammy Award-Winning Cannibal on Oct 30, 2014 9:28:54 GMT -5
Well, if the commitment is done, that means that there won't be a giant hiatus of subscribers every six months, and cancellations will be spread out throughout the year relatively evenly (except for those who subscribe for Mania and then cancel). Yep, this. I never understood the whole 6 month commitment/paying in advance thing. I have Netflix and I pay monthly. Easy. When you subscribe to something that's commitment-free and pay-as-you-go like that, you're far more prone to just keep your subscription and not think about it. If WWE is smart, they'll entice potential subscribers with new programming/documentaries as well as uploading new archives of Raw/SD/Nitro each month. I'd be interested in seeing the results of that. But yeah, Canada is still totally f***ed and they've squandered that opportunity for tens of thousands of potential subscribers by now. How embarrassing. And why wasn't anything asked about that on the conference call?? End of the day though... this was going to have growing pains from the start. After 9 months with a shitty rollout, 730,000 is a great start. There's no question that Vince & Co will be laughing about this in a couple years time. Laughing alllll the way to the pay windah.
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paywindah
Dennis Stamp
He's goin' to da paywindah here on da muddaship TBS.
Posts: 3,678
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Post by paywindah on Oct 30, 2014 9:40:00 GMT -5
This is really scary. Yeah, they'll get a few new subscribers from people who didn't like the 6-month commitment, but they are going to lose a whole lot more subscribers who now will only cherry pick 2 or 3 months out of the year to subscribe. Not good at all. Very desperate.
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khali
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,564
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Post by khali on Oct 30, 2014 9:46:35 GMT -5
Well, this is disastrous, to say the least.
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StuntGranny®
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Not Actually a Granny
Posts: 16,099
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Post by StuntGranny® on Oct 30, 2014 10:10:52 GMT -5
Yeah, those numbers are absolutely dreadful. I'd even teeter on the edge of hyperbole and say that they're catastrophic. Like others have said, eliminating the commitment shows how desperate they are right now.
I would suggest they start adding more content at a faster pace. It also probably wouldn't hurt if they implemented features that should've been available at launch.
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MrBRulzOK
Wade Wilson
Mr No-Pants Heathen
Something Witty Here.
Posts: 26,719
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Post by MrBRulzOK on Oct 30, 2014 10:18:29 GMT -5
Yeah, dropping the six month commitment definitely reeks of desperation to me.
The worst thing about this is that they really can't go back to the pay per view model because they've pissed off alot of the carriers. If not by initially cutting themselves off in the first place then by making sure to point out how stupid everybody whose still buying from pay per view is for doing so. I imagine that won't make it very easy if they have to come crawling back to the pay per view carriers.
Even so, from the looks of things, they've completely cannibalized their pay per view model. And now even after rolling out the Network in all these different countries they still haven't made a noticeable difference. How do you even go back to charging the normal prices for these shows as it is and expect them to sell nearly as many buys? You might can get away with it for Wrestlemania and maybe Royal Rumble, but aside from that....
This number is horrendous, plain and simple. It definitely does not speak well to the future of the Network.
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Boo!
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,417
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Post by Boo! on Oct 30, 2014 10:18:46 GMT -5
Just 28,000 overseas subscribers? From 170 countries? Wow.
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khali
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,564
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Post by khali on Oct 30, 2014 10:26:39 GMT -5
Just 28,000 overseas subscribers? From 170 countries? Wow. That would seem to indicate that either no one cares, or almost all the overseas customers who want the network got it illegally when it launched.
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Crimson
Hank Scorpio
Thank you DWade
Posts: 6,511
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Post by Crimson on Oct 30, 2014 10:28:11 GMT -5
November is also free for new subscribers Seriously? Guess I'll finally give it a go.
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Post by friendship frog on Oct 30, 2014 10:30:10 GMT -5
So that means they're making $7.2m per month plus whatever the limited sponsors are paying with a much higher profit margin than when they were exclusively on PPV.
I fail to see how that is "terrible".
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Boo!
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,417
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Post by Boo! on Oct 30, 2014 10:31:16 GMT -5
Just 28,000 overseas subscribers? From 170 countries? Wow. That would seem to indicate that either no one cares, or almost all the overseas customers who want the network got it illegally when it launched. Yeah but surely even those who did sign up illegal surely once the system launched locally they just deregistered and signed up again. In a market such as Australia and some others that numbers is woefully low. Maybe they don't do a good idea of promoting the network overseas and audiences are just expected to catch the tail end of the constant US promotions on their programming. I would have been expecting at least 200,000 from overseas subscribers. I think they may have more success in the UK if the £6.66 price point rumoured holds up as that's not as big a saving as in the US but it's better than half price of the cost of most PPVs (bigger saving with Mania) so may be attractive. Not sure what number to put on it but I'd guess between 85,000 - 110,000
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2014 10:35:16 GMT -5
I was really psyched for the tape library, but now I'm bored of that, so it's basically just buying PPVs for 10 bucks a month. Great price, but still the Network has lost it's luster already.
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domrep
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 7,461
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Post by domrep on Oct 30, 2014 10:38:17 GMT -5
So that means they're making $7.2m per month plus whatever the limited sponsors are paying with a much higher profit margin than when they were exclusively on PPV. I fail to see how that is "terrible". It's terrible b/c they need 1.4 million to break even, not to make money, just to break even. So judging by that, they're losing money. There's no way they're going to pick up another 700K subscribers. This is their fanbase.
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