Details On WWE Network Declines, Why WWE Expects To See Growth

The WWE Network averaged 1.511 million paid subscribers in the third quarter of 2019, according to today's Q3 2019 WWE earnings report. It is slightly lower than the 1.53 million subscribers projected for the quarter from the last quarterly earnings report. The number is down 9.2% from the same quarter the prior year quarter.

WWE projects the Network to have 1.43 million average paid subscribers in Q4, which would be a 10% decline from the 1.585 million subscribers in Q4 2018.

In the second quarter of this year, WWE averaged 1.688 million subscribers, so Network subscriptions dropped 10.5% from the last quarter.

For the end of the third quarter of 2019, WWE had 1.530 million total subscribers (free and paid), down 8% from 1.662 million subscribers in Q3 2018. The number of total paid subscribers was approximately 1.466 million (1.062 million domestic, 404,000 international), a 9.2% drop from 1.615 million in the prior year quarter.

Total U.S. subscribers for the quarter were 1.110 million (down 9% from Q3 2018), while international subscribers were 420,000 (down 5%). Paid U.S. subscribers for the quarter were 1.062 million (down 10.5% from Q3 2018), while international paid subscribers for Q3 were 404,000 (down 6%).

Total subscribers on the day of WrestleMania were 2 million (1.767 million paid, 233,000 free), down 6% from WrestleMania 34 in 2018.

During today's investor's media call, WWE Co-President George Barrios stated that the main driver of the Network are the pay-per-view events and other big events like Takeovers. WWE remains excited about the future of the Network and the value. Barrios believes that changes to the network like the localization of content and the tiered pricing system with free tier plans will help contribute to its growth.