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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2015 5:58:01 GMT -5
It's going to be more complicated than "admit the network was a failure, and go back to the way they used to do it" by making big shows pay-per-views again, because they've already pissed off the pay-per-view providers by doing the network to begin with. It doesn't help that now people have realized that they can get the network for free every month except Mania as long as they keep registering from a different E-mail address for all of these free months. That's a whole lot of people viewing the content with no money coming in the rest of the year.
You know, one thing they could do that I think would be a smart idea would be to keep Mania on the network next year, but just change it from $9.99 for every month to $14.99 for April. People were used to spending around $50 to watch Mania on PPV in the past. They won't like it, but they'll pay an extra five bucks one month out of the year in order to see Mania. It's still a tiny fraction of what they used to pay for it on PPV, but brings in a ton of more money via the network that particular month.
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Jun 17, 2015 6:28:44 GMT -5
Will this become a trend, forcing WWE to realize that they are now limited by the finite number of people out there who are willing to dish out a monthly fee for pro wrestling (and only WWE pro wrestling)? That's the key question. WWE boast on their corporate website that their programming reaches 650 million homes on a weekly basis. Of that number, only 0.02% are subscribers to the Network (based on the last-reported subscriber figures), which is clear evidence of how few people are willing to put their hands in their pockets for pro wrestling. Running a show like Mania with the same expenses is just not going to be cost-effective on the current model. Given PPV companies aren't likely to welcome them back with open arms (and certainly not without taking a substantially higher cut), the only option I would think would be a tiered pricing structure for the Network. |
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Post by Hit Girl on Jun 17, 2015 6:30:46 GMT -5
I blame HHH
That Terminator costume of his must have cost millions.
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Johnny Flamingo
Hank Scorpio
Killing the business one post at a time
Posts: 6,799
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Post by Johnny Flamingo on Jun 17, 2015 6:53:44 GMT -5
I expect some internal shakeups regarding Mania and payouts with various contracts but I don't think consumers will see much of a difference.
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Post by audiencewatching on Jun 17, 2015 7:38:31 GMT -5
HHH entrance MADE money, the studio would have paid for the product placement.
Still baffled how this lost money though.
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Sam Punk
Hank Scorpio
Own Nothing, Be Happy
Posts: 6,322
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Post by Sam Punk on Jun 17, 2015 7:47:08 GMT -5
I don't know why they aren't doing more to reach out to lapsed fans. I'm sure there would be a bunch of people willing to pay $9.99/mo just to rewatch shows from the past.
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Post by abjordans on Jun 17, 2015 7:49:52 GMT -5
Also... I tried it to see, I love WWE and won't do it again. But, you can literally make a new email address and the beginning of each month and get WWE Network for free. Netflix can detect that the device in question or the credit card in question have been used for the service before and will charge you anyway. However, WWE Network has not implemented that technology it seems.
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Post by abjordans on Jun 17, 2015 7:52:23 GMT -5
I don't know why they aren't doing more to reach out to lapsed fans. I'm sure there would be a bunch of people willing to pay $9.99/mo just to rewatch shows from the past. Yea, I have always thought the REAL selling point of the Network was the archived library. However, WWE sticks to using the PPVs and the small bit of original content made for the Network as the hard selling point. |
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Johnny Flamingo
Hank Scorpio
Killing the business one post at a time
Posts: 6,799
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Post by Johnny Flamingo on Jun 17, 2015 7:57:16 GMT -5
Really surprised they didn't break even. With that said it was expected to have some problems with rolling out the network and being way ahead of the game, in this regard they are definitely in uncharted water.
I assume they are going to have a large internal study as to the cost/revenue of the network and what numbers they need to have to make it as profitable as possible. I could see them having to do major restructuring internally depending on how bad the numbers are. I do also wonder the difference in revenue for non-Wrestlemania months.
I do think the days of hiring musical acts to perform may (hopefully) end as it is a non-needed expense. I could also see the Wrestlemania sets getting scaled down to limit costs.
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FAR5222
El Dandy
Counted 237 Bros.
SWERVE
Got no cookie for it.
Posts: 7,889 
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Post by FAR5222 on Jun 17, 2015 8:08:02 GMT -5
If they cut Wrestlemania from the network or raise the price $10 or do anything related to tier pricing that some of you are suggesting, I'm out. I don't have money that grows on trees and there are more important things in life than wrestling. Especially when your bored to death/not interested anymore.
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Post by Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story on Jun 17, 2015 8:26:00 GMT -5
I don't know why they aren't doing more to reach out to lapsed fans. I'm sure there would be a bunch of people willing to pay $9.99/mo just to rewatch shows from the past. Yea, I have always thought the REAL selling point of the Network was the archived library. However, WWE sticks to using the PPVs and the small bit of original content made for the Network as the hard selling point. All of their internal data points to the live content, NXT and the original programming as being the key drivers of views on the Network. The old PPVs, old TVs, etc. aren't driving many views, apparently. And it's not like they don't have old stuff on there - they have a ton. What they should do next year is offer WrestleMania as an in-app purchase for like $9.99-$14.99 on top of the Network subscription. You may get a couple of annoyed fans but I'd be willing to make the bet that most people would pay the extra money. They wouldn't recoup everything, but it might help depending on how great the loss was this year. |
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Post by The Heartbreak TWERK on Jun 17, 2015 8:59:31 GMT -5
Above all else (and maybe this has nothing to do with how many people bought it), but maybe, just maybe, we don't antagonize the customers from the Rumble to Mania?
It's not about what Vince wants. No matter what that old man thinks.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jun 17, 2015 9:21:16 GMT -5
Will this become a trend, forcing WWE to realize that they are now limited by the finite number of people out there who are willing to dish out a monthly fee for pro wrestling (and only WWE pro wrestling)? That's the key question. WWE boast on their corporate website that their programming reaches 650 million homes on a weekly basis. Of that number, only 0.02% are subscribers to the Network (based on the last-reported subscriber figures), which is clear evidence of how few people are willing to put their hands in their pockets for pro wrestling. Running a show like Mania with the same expenses is just not going to be cost-effective on the current model. Given PPV companies aren't likely to welcome them back with open arms (and certainly not without taking a substantially higher cut), the only option I would think would be a tiered pricing structure for the Network. Right - if someone were to attempt to put together a chart detailing what percentage of the available US audience was willing to pay money to watch pro wrestling, the sad fact is that the number has done very little except drop for decades, now. Even just looking at WWE, specifically, once the Hulkamania generation grew up the numbers kept on a downward trend. WWE still gets more than enough viewers to be successful despite that, but they may soon be faced with whether things like extravagant WM sets/locales and what have you are cost effective anymore. It's a niche product, and if this business model stays in place and doesn't move too much one way or the other, it may start looking more like one pretty soon. |
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Post by joeiscool on Jun 17, 2015 9:23:33 GMT -5
I wonder how they calculate this? It seems with the network it makes things slightly harder to measure
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Jun 17, 2015 9:23:35 GMT -5
The obvious solution is to put WrestleMania on the network, but put the match finishes behind a premium upgrade paywall.
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Post by Hit Girl on Jun 17, 2015 9:25:09 GMT -5
Like all WWE PPV's and programming, you can skip Wrestlemania and miss relatively little.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2015 9:35:35 GMT -5
Like all WWE PPV's and programming, you can skip Wrestlemania and miss relatively little. Too true. I don't watch PPVs because I don't think they sell much that's worth buying. A chance to see a good match? That's about it. They don't tell good or interesting stories. The characters aren't well-written and many don't have discernible characteristics on TV. They have bullshit on the app and social media and shows on the network, but why am I going to take the time and effort to see character development and storyline progression that's included on any other TV show or movie? When I watch The Empire Strikes Back on TV, I don't have a pop-up video that says "Log in on your phone and waste 15 minutes to see Han banter with Chewie and Leia!" The way they present their product is asinine. If they don't want to give all their matches on free TV, then they can spend it trying to do storylines. And I mean real story lines, not ill-conceived jokes about magic beans, or Kane prattling on, or Cena downplaying his most recent monster-of-the-week. |
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Post by The Heartbreak TWERK on Jun 17, 2015 9:45:06 GMT -5
The obvious solution is to put WrestleMania on the network, but put the match finishes behind a premium upgrade paywall. They recap the finishes 2000000000 times during the show. |
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Post by EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese on Jun 17, 2015 9:46:48 GMT -5
The obvious solution is to put WrestleMania on the network, but put the match finishes behind a premium upgrade paywall. "Pay $10 now to get the alternate ending of WrestleMania XXXII, where Daniel Bryan miraculously returns from injury to win the WWE Championship!" |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2015 9:48:17 GMT -5
Ah, that's why they ended up using aluminum foil on those robots in HHH's entrance.
He saw the trend. He saw this news item. So he did his best to save money.
In the end HHH didn't cause this. BUT EVERYONE ELSE DID.
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