WWE Network subscriptions up for WrestleMania, but fall shy of two million

WWE held a post-WrestleMania 33 conference call today (April 3, 2017) for investors and the business press, the focus of which was an updated subscriber count for the streaming Network service.

The company rolled out numerous promotions in an effort to attract subscribers ahead of Sunday night’s “Ultimate Thrill Ride”, including the standard one month free for new customers and a three month offer for some lapsed ones. It, and presumably excitement for the ‘Mania card, helped WWE improve on their last reported number - but they still fell short of their rumored goal of reaching two million subscribers.

Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios stated the total reached 1,949,000, with 1,661,000 of those being paying customers. WWE officials declined to comment on how many of the users with free subs came from the one vs. three month promotion.

Barrios commented today’s number represented an 11% improvement in the domestic total from the same quarter in 2016. The U.S. vs. international numbers broke down to 1,452,000 domestic, with 1,257,000 paying and 497,000 from all others, with 424,000 of those paying.

On January 31, the company reported 1.5 million subscribers.

There were rumors the company might roll additional independent promotions as content today, perhaps even with tiered pricing to access more wrestling, but there was no mention of it on the call.