Objectives

By bringing WWE to cable, closed-circuit television and pay-per-view, Vince McMahon revolutionized event programming for sports and entertainment decades ago and he continues to be a visionary today. Once again, WWE has created a new way to engage fans with an extraordinary value proposition by strategically delivering WWE's premium live content directly to fans in 170 countries with WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 direct-to-consumer network delivered directly to fans through over-the-top digital distribution.

Featuring all 12 WWE live pay-per-view events, WWE Network features groundbreaking original programming, reality shows, documentaries, classic matches and nearly 3,000 hours of video on demand.

Announced on January 8, 2014 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the WWE Network was the biggest social winner from the entire conference according to social monitoring company, Mass Relevance. WWE Network comprised 55% of the social conversation, besting such established content providers as the Sony Keynote (26%) and Netflix (8%).

Officially launching on February 24, 2014, WWE Network reached more than 1,000,000 subscribers in just 11 months, making it the fastest-growing digital subscription service ever.

The WWE Network also helped make WrestleMania 30 a record-breaking event, reaching 1 million households in the U.S. alone, marking the first time WrestleMania eclipsed this mark domestically (WrestleMania was previously distributed through pay-per-view only).

Strategy and Execution

More than 1,000,000 subscribers are signed up for WWE Network (as of January 29, 2015).

More than 2,000,000 unique devices have been used to view WWE Network during the past year, streaming more than 285 million streams of original content.

WWE Network-related topics and programs have trended worldwide more than 1,200 times on Twitter.

WWE Network's social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ currently have 5 million combined followers, and have customer support representatives monitoring social traffic on these pages to answer questions about the service.

Since the revolutionary launch of WWE Network, other sports and entertainment companies have followed suit with the launch of their own OTT services, including the NFL, HBO and CBS.

In an audience survey of WWE Network subscribers in May 2014:

• Nine in ten respondents said they were very or extremely satisfied with WWE Network. 50% said they were extremely satisfied.
• 65% of survey respondents reported WWE Network exceeding the expectations they had prior to subscribing.
• As to frequency of viewing: Nine-in-ten subscribers surveyed claim to watch WWE Network at least once per week. Almost one third (31%) claim to watch daily.
• Two-thirds of subscriber survey respondents would "definitely" recommend WWE Network, reinforcing the positive reactions to the service.

Media