Report: WWE Losing Nearly $50 Million From The Network

Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer

UPDATE: WWE will reportedly lose more money this year than any wrestling promotion has ever lost in a calendar year, except for WCW in 2000. They will lose around $46-52 million this year. WCW lost $62 million in 2000. WWE projected to lose about $23-26 million in the first six months. After the new TV deal and the launch of the WWE Network (they got way less than they expected for both), they expected to break even. They didn’t even come close as we’ve been reporting. However, even with the company losing all of this money, there is no chance they’re going to go out of business.

We reported several months ago that the initial WWE Network numbers were lower than WWE anticipated despite them spinning them in press releases for obvious reasons. The internal hope was for around 1 million subscribers after the initial launch and WrestleMania. They set an “easy” goal of 1 million subscribers “by the end of the year” as a way to impress their investors. They wanted to come out the day after WrestleMania and announce that they were already close to their goal. The fear is that subscribers are trickling in now that most of their fans have ordered for the initial launch and WestleMania. If they didn’t order the Network for WrestleMania, they are not likely to order for “B” pay-per-views such as Payback, Money in the Bank, etc. Also, a lot of people will likely wind up leaving once their six month subscription is up this fall.

ORIGINAL: After the news of WWE’s financial problems and their plans to make the WWE Network profitable, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios said that there may be advertisements on the Network soon. Ads could start appearing as soon as the first quarter of 2015.

There has also been talk of increasing the monthly subscription cost to increase revenue.

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