Could WWE move everything online in the future?
It’s no secret that WWE’s weekly viewership has been on the decline recently. They are drawing an average of three million viewers a week. But that number has been dropping over the years.
Within the company, there seem to be talks of switching everything to an online medium. Including Raw, and Smackdown. During a recent call with investors, Geroge Barrios, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, mentioned that WWE has been thinking about the move for years:
"“Vince [McMahon] has said it many times. Five, six or seven years ago we thought it was really important to make sure we staked out the social digital landscape as well as direct to consumer. We’ve done that, so now we have options. Do I think a digital player will become more realistic to step up in the level of rights fees we’ve seen from traditional players? I think eventually. I couldn’t tell you whether that’s tomorrow or five years from now, but I think eventually. Certainly, over the last two years, we’ve seen a steady progression. From our end, the reason we’ve invested so much in having a position on these platforms is to take advantage of that eventuality. That’s a long-winded way of saying ‘Could we see that happening? Yes, absolutely.’”"
WWE is still under contract with the USA Network until 2019. WWE is being paid an estimate of $140 Million annually. While if they moved to Facebook, they could make upwards of $400 Million annually. According to an analyst at BITG.
With online entities such as Netflix, and Hulu becoming more and more popular every year, it makes WWE making a move online make more sense. The question then becomes where do they go?
Hulu announced a live TV part of their subscription package, so that’s a viable option. WWE also has the network. But moving Raw and Smackdown could see prices go up to access the network. Which may push people away, Facebook and Twitter also have live options on their websites, so those are options as well.
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As I said before, WWE is still under contract with the USA Network until 2019, so a move can’t be made until then. So, for now, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.