Does WWE recognise the subscriptions from outside US?

[chazzbusby]

Just been thinking - there must be a large number of us now who are outside the US - do you think WWE include that in their numbers? I guess technically they appear as US based subscriptions but the money certainly would show from the country of origin surely?

It's not beyond imagination that all the phantom subscriptions from abroad could be hidden in their accounts or even shifted on to something else to alter profits/losses somewhere.

[Chip]

They have included them but they recognise that like a third of the subs they have are international subscriptions, which doesn't bode too well for them.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Oh my god, that's even worse. That means the bump they get when the Network goes international (I mean legit, you cheating ass Brits) is gonna be smaller than they are predicting them.

[Chip]

Jun 14, 2014 22:29:05 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

Oh my god, that's even worse. That means the bump they get when the Network goes international (I mean legit, you cheating ass Brits) is gonna be smaller than they are predicting them.

I'm curious how much of it is Canadian subscriptions as well, when they said "international" they may have included Canada in that but most seem to use it to refer to outside of NA, so it's hard to tell.

[chazzbusby]

Yeah that doesn't sound good. I was thinking they'd have done their best to keep them quiet so that they could boast of a huge jump when it's released to the international community.

[Deleted]

The WWE have acknowledged there are subscribers outside the US?


I thought that would be the sort of thing they would be aware of but keep quiet to keep international broadcast partners sweet

[Chip]

Jun 15, 2014 13:46:28 GMT -5 @graant said:

The WWE have acknowledged there are subscribers outside the US?


I thought that would be the sort of thing they would be aware of but keep quiet to keep international broadcast partners sweet

I can imagine they'd get into a lot of shit if they kept it secret. Wouldn't it count as fraud?

[chazzbusby]

Fraud on the surface but possibly not that hard for a team of financial gurus to loophole into something else, I'm sure. Be interesting once the new accounts come out.

[Mayonnaise]

Anything WWE has right now they will say is US only because that is the only air it is legally available to. I would think WWE has some idea of the percentage of people outside the US but I doubt they have a solid number. With all the steps people would have to go through, there is just no way. The other thing is, we don't know what info WWE gets from MLBAM. All the technical and billing is done by MLBAM so they have to trust what they get from MLBAM in this regard and MLBAM might not be as strict with things or be looking for people using the tools needed to access the Network outside the US.

[chazzbusby]

I wonder if they're at all aware of the amazing number of people signing up with a 90210 zip code and paying via european bank accounts.

And while I'm bumping; seeing as we've just had the big number revelation I was curious as to whether the subscribers from outside the US are part of the 700,000 or hidden away in a little room until they count.

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

I actually don't think Brits who are already using the Network will affect the subscriber numbers much. I can't imagine there's that many British WWE fans who know about the techniques to get the Network in the UK.

[Boo!]

Probably. Let's be honest they're not going to say "please, stop sending us money".

I think people who subscribe to the Network already from outside the US will be fairly low and 95% of people will wait until the 1st October launch.

It's actually fairly interesting as subscribing outside territorial limits isn't illegal but it does breach rights-holders copyright and therefore WWE has a legal obligation to prevent it from happening. At the moment they do geographically restrict content. I'm not sure what else WWE can do short of asking people to take  picture of themselves with their passport and a copy of that mornings newspaper. 

I think within 5 years or so companies will wake up to the fact that geographically restricted online content is almost a contradiction in terms.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 14, 2014 22:23:21 GMT -5 Chip said:

They have included them but they recognise that like a third of the subs they have are international subscriptions, which doesn't bode too well for them.

A third sounds kind of high.

[Boo!]

Don't think it's any higher than 10,000 or so from the UK, if that. Probably more than half of that. PPVs here cost £14.95 so the saving through subscribing to the WWE Network with the extra bits you need works out to around £10. £4.95 saving is nice but it's not THAT nice. Certainly not for so many people to bother with. Hardcore fans? Maybe. But even those guys would be unlikely to.


I'd guess once it launches in the UK and Ireland they'll get around 75,000-125,000 subscribers from that territory

[Chip]

Aug 7, 2014 6:41:13 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Jun 14, 2014 22:23:21 GMT -5 Chip said:

They have included them but they recognise that like a third of the subs they have are international subscriptions, which doesn't bode too well for them.

A third sounds kind of high.

Probably. It was so long ago that I really don't recall but it was a decent chunk of the subs at the time at least. Definitely something WWE should have been worrying about.

[chazzbusby]

I suppose all may become clear once it launches internationally. On a side note I still maintain that the network's growth is impressive in its early stages and would be seen much more positively had Vince resisted the urge to fill everyone with pyro and ballyhoo about the magic million figure. I think it will reach that figure very soon - again rather impressively - only to be met with negative comments of "about damn time" and talk of slow growth.