Big things are coming for The WWE Network later this year as the company has been working on the introduction of a new network launch. The new platform, which WWE partnered with The Endeavor streaming company on, was referred to as a “re-launch” of The WWE Network at one point during the recent first quarter earnings call with WWE Executives. WWE Co-President George Barrios noted that their team has been working on the new platform for over a year now and that they are very excited for it to be released.
Barrios said the new platform will introduce new features that fans have been asking for and they believe that it will help with the growth of The WWE Network. The new platform will develop over the next few years and they are excited about what it will grow into.
Barrios did not confirm which quarter the re-launch will take place in, but he did say that it will happen in 2019. WWE Officials have been talking about introducing a tiered pricing version of The Network for a while now. It was noted earlier this year in The 2018 fourth quarter earnings call that they were “developing the next iteration” of The WWE Network. There is no word yet on the details of the new platform or possible tiered plans, but WWE issued a survey in 2018 that gauged interest on a potential premium tier of The Network, which would offer “more content, features, and perks” for $15 per month.
WWE announced in the recent earnings report that The Network averaged 1.584 Million paid subscribers in the first quarter, up 1.7% from last year’s 1.558 Million paid subscribers in the same quarter. The Network averaged 1.157 Million paid domestic subscribers in the first quarter, up 1.8% from last year’s 1.136 Million paid subscribers in the same quarter. WWE projects an average of 1.70 Million paid subscribers for the second quarter, down 5% from last year in the same quarter. WWE had a total of 1.643 Million total subscribers, paid and free, for the end of the first quarter of this year. WWE announced the day after WrestleMania 35 that they had reached a total of 2 Million subscribers, paid and free.
