In a conference call today, WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, George Barrios, and WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, Michelle D. Wilson, announced that the WWE Network now has a total of 1.95 million subscribers, falling short of the 2 million target that many expected. This is a 7% increase over the day after WrestleMania last year.
“With nearly 2 million total subscribers, more households than ever before watched WrestleMania on WWE Network,” said George Barrios, WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer. “Given the ongoing strong growth of WWE Network, we continue to expect record subscriber levels and record revenue in 2017 as we achieve targeted record profits.”
Paid subscribers reached 1.66 million, including 1.24 million domestic and 424,000 international subscribers as of April 3, 2017. A total of 288,000 subscribers domestically enjoyed WrestleMania for free and an additional 73,000 internationally. In total, WWE gave out a free month to 361,000 subscribers for WrestleMania.
WWE Network subscribers viewed 22.5 million hours during WrestleMania Week or 13 hours per subscriber during the week. This compares to 21.7 million hours last year, a 4% year-over-year increase.
Wall Street was not impressed. After reaching a high of $22.57 a share earlier in the day, it went down to $20.55 a share after the numbers were announced and eventually then closed the day at $21.85.
Last year, WWE announced 1,820,000 subscribers to the Network the day after WrestleMania 32. It was also the first time that WrestleMania was offered for free for new subscribers.
The night after WrestleMania XXX, the first Mania on the Network, WWE announced a total of 667,000 subscribers and the night after WrestleMania 31 they announced 1,315,000 subscribers.