WWE Network Thread

irish_stevo815

Just catching up on Countdown... Bloody hell the best of Raw one is just an hour long advertisement for the Monday Night Wars show

Ape Lincoln

irish_stevo815 wrote: »

Just catching up on Countdown... Bloody hell the best of Raw one is just an hour long advertisement for the Monday Night Wars show

Haven't watched it cause these "Best of Raw" shows are usually awful. Were any wrestling matches featured?

irish_stevo815

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

Haven't watched it cause these "Best of Raw" shows are usually awful. Were any wrestling matches featured?

Yeah I'm usually the same. There were 2 matches featured, more so about the result than the match

Ape Lincoln

irish_stevo815 wrote: »

Yeah I'm usually the same. There were 2 matches featured, more so about the result than the match

Shame. There has been some great wrestling on Raw. Hennig vs Flair in 1993 and Punk vs Cena last year spring to mind but there's been many more. Hate it when these "best moments of Raw" include awful convoluted stuff like Austin driving a beer truck or something.

irish_stevo815

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

Hate it when these "best moments of Raw" include awful convoluted stuff like Austin driving a beer truck or something.

Surprisingly, that wasn't on it

rossie1977

jaykhunter wrote: »

Go google search WrestleMania 27 1.9 million buys for me.

wwe never reported that so it means nothing. court bauer who actually worked for wwe one time reported mania 29 doing less than 800k a few days after the show last year and mania 29 has since topped 1.1 million buys..

lets not forget bryan alvarez' infamous claim last year

While the official buyrate is still months away from being released, early estimates for the WrestleMania 29 pay-per-view are coming in and they do not look good. Even though WWE stated publicly that they were confident that WM29 show would sell similarly to last year's record-breaking show, the company substantially lowered their internal projections in days leading up to WrestleMania. According to one source, the WrestleMania 29 buyrate is "downright shocking

Ape Lincoln

Dave Meltzer's analysis on the numbers from the latest Observer Newsletter for those interested:

The WWE made the announcement that WrestleMania is estimated at doing nearly 400,000 domestic PPV buys, and claiming that a record 1 million U.S. households watched the show.

With the network, it should have been a lock that more U.S. homes would watch the show than any previous show.

The first thing that should be noted is that “nearly 400,000" number in the sense WWE’s original announcements have traditionally been optimistic. The last two years’ first announcements at this point in time were 1.3 million and 1.2 million, because PPV buy estimates are an inexact science. This is not the idea of making up numbers, because it’s a public company, and I believe the estimates were what they expected to end up with when they made them. As silly as this sounds in 2014, even the best estimates, weeks after the show, can be off by quite a bit when you already have actual numbers in hand. The actual final numbers were 1,219,000 and 1,104,000 worldwide respectively. That’s not to say this year’s eventual number will be higher or lower than the first announcement, just the past two years have ended up each being nearly 100,000 lower.

Still, the PPV number is great as the WWE had budgeted approximately 295,000 buys between the U.S. and Canada on PPV.

The idea that the 667,000 network subscribers and “nearly 400,000" domestic breaks one million isn’t necessarily the case. It’s virtually impossible it is the case, because of overlapping and also questions as to how many network subscribers are really from the U.S.

WWE pushed that more homes saw WrestleMania in the U.S. than any time in history. That should have been the case with the low price and new technology. There’s also a better than even chance it’s not true, based on how many of those 667,287 network subscribers aren’t from the U.S., as well as the percentage of network subscribers who ordered the show on traditional PPV because of all the streaming problems the network had up to that point in time.

According to those in WWE, the “nearly 400,000" domestic figure does not include Canada, meaning just as the show didn’t do what the company estimated as far as network buys, it did considerably better on the PPV front.
With a projection of 295,000 PPV buys between U.S. and Canada on PPV, that would really only figure to be 235,000 or so in the U.S., since one would expect 60,000 of the buys from Canada if one assumes Canadians for the most part don’t get the network (which could be a faulty assumption).

But if you assume a lot of Canadians did get the network, that would also assume as well as U.K. residents did, and a strong number of other foreign residents did, the 667,000 number is not a U.S. number. And for sure it’s not. Our own polling indicated 63 percent of the network subscribers were from the U.S. (420,000). I believe that is faulty on the low side, but with no evidence of that past a hunch. But it does indicate the U.S. subscribers are also probably not even near 667,000. There are also people who subscribe to the network that didn’t watch Mania either live, later, or on PPV. I know of many people who ordered the network for the historical content that no longer watch the product, and didn’t watch Mania. Our own polling indicated just under 70 percent of those in the U.S. with the network watched WrestleMania live, with 13 percent not having watched it yet, 11 percent watching it on PPV instead and six percent watching it after the fact. If anything, we would be skewed significantly on the high side there, not the low side. So that would indicate WrestleMania viewers both live and delayed on the network at 447,000 total, and again, you have to figure what the legitimate percentage of those viewing the network from outside the U.S. is. Given our polling, it comes to 282,000, but again, I think that’s a low figure, but the real figure would be between those numbers. But no matter which of the two figures (282,000 and 447,000) is closer to the mark, the number is far lower than anyone could have expected, just as the PPV number is far higher.

The combined figure would be more than last year’s Mania in the U.S. even under a worst case scenario, but is likely in the ballpark of the 2012 Mania for total U.S. viewership and is probably below the 1989, 2001 and 2007 versions.

the deftone

Im trying to subscribe right now, have the proxy and all working. But I keep getting redirected back to "how to watch"... Any ideas?

A Rogue Hobo

Just wanna say in reply to Meltzer's little post-analysis rambling ****e there: He's banging on about how if excluding Canada plus U.K/Ireland Network subscriptions there was no way Wrestlemania was viewed in over 1 million homes in the U.S alone which is true logically, however statistically it is true regardless if he likes it or not. Also two things he is choosing to ignore:

1) Whilst a small percentage of foreigners are subscribing currently, it's a minority and should barely make a dent into what the revenue the Network will earn after it's first year in a "U.S only" release. Not even mentioning the fact that once international PPV buys are included the PPV buy number will increase

2) The whole bloody point of the Network is that they are cutting out the middle man. They don't have to pay anyone to broadcast the PPV if someone views it on the Network, especially considering anyone on the Network is tied down for the next 5-6 months.

P.S Sting signed 3 years ago

**** Meltzer.

The Ayatolla

The negativity surrounding the network is astounding.

The amount of "fans" hoping it fails is unbelievable. Jumping all over any possible cracks. Christ above.

"it's doomed!"

"the price will go up!"

"Wrestlemania will be taken off next year!"

" they're calling PPVs "Special events"!!!!!!

Jesus they've just shown the first PPV, numbers have been a success by all means, it's due to launch in some huge countries by January next year, and content is looking great thus far. It's barely 2 months young.

rovert

The Ultimate Warrior Legend doc is getting rave reviews. Better (and obviously sadder) than the Daniel Bryan WWE Network doc.

The Ayatolla

rovert wrote: »

The Ultimate Warrior Legend doc is getting rave reviews. Better (and obviously sadder) than the Daniel Bryan WWE Network doc.

Is the format the same as the D-Bryan one? Following him around for the week-ish?

rovert

The Ayatolla wrote: »

Is the format the same as the D-Bryan one? Following him around for the week-ish?

Yep.

It isn't a cheap re-edit of Warriors 2014 DVD.

Monokne

A Rogue Hobo wrote: »

1) Whilst a small percentage of foreigners are subscribing currently, it's a minority and should barely make a dent into what the revenue the Network will earn after it's first year in a "U.S only" release.

Do you actually have that number? I was under the impression no one, not even WWE had that number. Are you just guessing? I know Mookieghana was estimating 40,000 while a poll on the Observer site had an incredibly high percentage, but given that's the hardest of hardcores, it's bound to skew very high.

I would guess anywhere between 5 & 15%. If it were hard to do then I'd go lower, but it's incredibly simple so I'd say you're looking at 10%+, maybe 70,000. I can easily believe there are 70,000 people outside the USA who really want this network and are willing to use Unblock US or whatever to access it.

The Ayatolla

rovert wrote: »

Yep.

It isn't a cheap re-edit of Warriors 2014 DVD.

Should be watching both over the weekend. Nice!

Monokne

The Ayatolla wrote: »

The negativity surrounding the network is astounding.

The amount of "fans" hoping it fails is unbelievable. Jumping all over any possible cracks. Christ above.

"it's doomed!"

"the price will go up!"

"Wrestlemania will be taken off next year!"

" they're calling PPVs "Special events"!!!!!!

Jesus they've just shown the first PPV, numbers have been a success by all means, it's due to launch in some huge countries by January next year, and content is looking great thus far. It's barely 2 months young.

I think that there is a key difference between hoping it fails and believing it's a flawed business model. Those can be mutually exclusive feelings. I get the impression that at times if one expresses the opinion that the network hasn't been a great idea from the company's perspective, that person immediately gets painted as someone who wants it to fail and I am not sure why that is. I certainly hope it succeeds, and I absolutely love having it. But the results are decidedly mixed thus far.

The 667,000 number is poor - barely above a disaster. The idea that it's only 2 months old so they have time to remedy that is a misleading one. They have played their biggest card in Wrestlemania. I don't see 400,000 people subscribing to see Warrior & D Bryan docs, or a B PPV. The fact they're now offering Mania and all the above on ANOTHER free week tells you that numbers are not growing as they'd hope. I don't see a way to get up over 800,000 by years end in the US alone.

The Wrestlemania number is fantastic. It will be interesting to see if international takes a hit though, based on people who've managed to get the network. My gut is 10%. But they take in so much more money on PPV than the network that in a way, this has been their saving grace thus far.

But there are moving parts here as well. While DirecTV and Dish pulling out of carrying their PPV's may not have a huge impact (as evidenced by Elimination Chamber), if InDemand follows, the company could be massively in the red on the project. They've budgeted to maintain 40% of their domestic PPV revenue and get 1 million subscribers. If they lose all PPV revenue than suddenly break even runs well north of 1.5 million subscribers in the US alone, which I think you'll agree is impossible, certainly in the short term.

I was cynical that it would work in the first place, and the number they announced is actually slightly lower than the 750k I'd expected. However, I believe that this technology is growing and in the long run I do now think they will make it work. I do believe they'll have to up the price slightly and cut back on production costs, that said.

ShagNastii

Whilst we're talking about Worldwide VS US only, the world market for WWE where is it and who is likely to insta-buy the network when it's released worldwide?

I know Europe will lap up the release of the WWE Network. Could it out do the states? And where are the likes of Asia and Latin America for the E?

The Ayatolla

ShagNastii wrote: »

Whilst we're talking about Worldwide VS US only, the world market for WWE where is it and who is likely to insta-buy the network when it's released worldwide?

I know Europe will lap up the release of the WWE Network. Could it out do the states? And where are the likes of Asia and Latin America for the E?

Don't forget Australia and New Zealand. And South Africa.

We won't have to worry anyway, the Network will be gone by Summerslam! Doomed, doomed I tells you!!!! :(:(:(

Chael The Spider Sonnen

The Ayatolla wrote: »

The negativity surrounding the network is astounding.

The amount of "fans" hoping it fails is unbelievable. Jumping all over any possible cracks. Christ above.

"it's doomed!"

"the price will go up!"

"Wrestlemania will be taken off next year!"

" they're calling PPVs "Special events"!!!!!!

Jesus they've just shown the first PPV, numbers have been a success by all means, it's due to launch in some huge countries by January next year, and content is looking great thus far. It's barely 2 months young.

Stop talking sense! RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

Its not allowed on here!

ShagNastii

Haven't really been following this thread/reports about the Network. Why in Gods name would fans huge it was going to fail?

XFL. WWE Films. Tout. Of all of Vince McMahon's ideas to expand the business. I'd nearly see a netfilx like network as a gift to wrestling fans everywhere.

A Rogue Hobo

Monokne wrote: »

Do you actually have that number? I was under the impression no one, not even WWE had that number. Are you just guessing? I know Mookieghana was estimating 40,000 while a poll on the Observer site had an incredibly high percentage, but given that's the hardest of hardcores, it's bound to skew very high.

I would guess anywhere between 5 & 15%. If it were hard to do then I'd go lower, but it's incredibly simple so I'd say you're looking at 10%+, maybe 70,000. I can easily believe there are 70,000 people outside the USA who really want this network and are willing to use Unblock US or whatever to access it.

Most places are estimating between 5-10% which is a fairly realistic number. And whilst the likes of me and you know how to sign up you'd probably be more surprised at the amount of people who don't know how. Most of my friends that are big wrestling fans still haven't even seen the network because they're afraid something will go wrong and they wouldn't exactly be technologically inept.

The Ayatolla

A Rogue Hobo wrote: »

Most of my friends that are big wrestling fans still haven't even seen the network because they're afraid something will go wrong and they wouldn't exactly be technologically inept.

Same here.

Monokne

I've not got a big circle of wrestling fan friends, only 3 of the lads would be into it. Me and one other have it, the other two don't.

rovert

Consider these spoilers on the Warrior doc which you should probably NOT look at until you watch it as they are key scenes.

This scene:
http://i.imgur.com/ywdeb4ul.jpg

And

Vince and Triple H crying at the end

will crush you.

Warrior doc was outstanding.

Didn't think legends house was great to be honest.

Reebrock

Sorry if this has been talked to death elsewhere, but am I able to watch the WWE Network on my Xbox One? As in, download the Network App and watch properly? Or even through the web browser on Xbox One via the US Unblock websites?

Thank You

Reebrock

Reebrock wrote: »

Sorry if this has been talked to death elsewhere, but am I able to watch the WWE Network on my Xbox One? As in, download the Network App and watch properly? Or even through the web browser on Xbox One via the US Unblock websites?

Thank You

hasn't been launched on xbox one yet and you cant watch through the browser. Should launch in the summer.

Agent Coulson

The Warrior doc is brilliant.

Seeing his daughter hold the Ultimate Warrior is the Ultimate Dad sign

Reebrock

Deleted User wrote: »

hasn't been launched on xbox one yet and you cant watch through the browser. Should launch in the summer.

Thanks mate!

Monokne

Warrior doc was incredible. I may be speaking partly from emotion here but I don't think they've ever made one better. It was very powerful.

The scene where he gives Vince the kids book was astounding. Here you have these two giant egos who've been battling for twenty years, flaming each other in public. But underneath it, you have a very personal relationship that went badly wrong leaving both parties hurt, and is in the process of being repaired. I thought the gesture of Warrior signing and giving Vince the book best encapsulated that as it was a gesture closer in nature to something you'd expect between two halves of a couple than these larger than life, egocentric tough guys.

If I had one criticism it would be of the talking heads at the end discussing what Warrior would want his legacy to be. I think Indiana and Mattigan are his legacy. Certainly, seeing the family he left behind is the saddest thing.

However bittersweet, my favourite scene was when he's standing by his car, getting ready to leave Monday Night Raw. He's explaining how happy he is that he came back and how well everything has gone. Warrior can often come across bombastic and over the top, but here he felt really stripped away and honest. There was a contentment, a peace about him. As Vince said, it felt like it was almost destined to be this way.