The last in my lastest series of WWE Caricature Signs features former WWE Wrestler and now COO Triple H aka HHH aka Hunter Hearst Helmsley aka Paul Levesque. Earlier this year, the WWE launched the WWE Network. After first approaching several cable companies to create a premium network like Showtime and HBO, the WWE decided that the distribution wasn’t there and therefore created the network as an over the top streaming network.
The big value to customers is that at a $9.99 price point (with a 6 month commitment) you would get all the PPV events that historically were only available on cable/satellite. The company stated in early earnings calls that they anticipated needing 1 million subscribers to break even. Considering on cable any single PPV event could cost $45, the heavy PPV buyers flocked to the network early. For one cable/satellite PPV, you could watch four monthly PPV events. Great deal right? Well unfortunately the WWE seemed to stall at about 700,000 subscribers as recent reports.
So how do you get the needle moving again? Have one of your biggest talents use his on-air time to, with a wink, shamelessly promote the WWE Network at “only $9.99” at every chance he can. If this doesn’t work, there is talk they may scrap the entire streaming network and try once again to sell it via cable.
