Morgan Stanley held their annual Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference event earlier today featuring TKO President and Chief Content Officer Mark Shapiro as one of the guest speakers.
One of the topics discussed included Shapiro stating that the viewership for this past Saturday’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 event had increased compared to this past September’s Wrestlepalooza event on ESPN’s ESPN Unlimited streaming service. Shapiro also stated that the viewership for Elimination Chamber was lower than what WWE had been generating for the PLEs on Peacock and Netflix.
“We saw a significant increase in audience from the first event, which was Wrestlepalooza. They’re already making strides. Are they where Netflix was and where Peacock was? Not yet, but I’m super encouraged by the numbers Nick Khan was sending me by the hour this past weekend.”
Shapiro also gave his thoughts about his belief that the price point for ESPN Unlimited is currently “somewhat prohibitive” for WWE fans and how it has been affecting their viewership for WWE PLEs on the service.
“That is (the $29.99 monthly cost without authenticating), I believe, is somewhat prohibitive, especially in today’s economy and the struggles that certainly middle income and low income earners are having with affordability. They have to get those deals done. Until they do, that will affect our audience.”
Transcript h/t: Fightful.com, F4WOnline.com
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