Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

WWE Is Laying the Smackdown on the World

The market’s enthusiasm for WWE stems largely from its lucrative TV contracts, combined with its early success in direct-to-consumer streaming TV apps. In 2014 the company made a risky move, deciding essentially to cannibalize its traditional pay-per-view business. Instead of paying their cable companies one-time fees to see WWE’s marquee events—say, $44.99 for the Royal Rumble—fans would be encouraged to subscribe to a streaming video service, the WWE Network, and pay a monthly fee. After some early turbulence, the move is paying off. Roughly 1.5 million people now hand over $9.99 a month for the WWE Network, making it the 11th-most-popular streaming video service in the U.S., according to Parks Associates, and the second-most-popular, after Major League Baseball’s, in the “sports-related” category.

From the article "WWE Is Laying the Smackdown on the World" by Felix Gillette and Kim Bhasin.

Previously In The News

Does cord cutting REALLY save you money? It now costs $120 a month to subscribe to Netflix, Hulu and the other main streaming services - as platforms hike prices amid fierce competition

A 2022 study from market research firm Parks Associates found a quarter of American households subscribe to nine or more streaming services, while 50 percent are signed up to at least four.  From t...

Most Pirated TV Shows List Spells Trouble for Disney

A study from earlier this year found pirating websites and password sharing could cost providers around $113 billion in the next five years alone. Conducted by Parks Associates, the research found tha...

TVOS wars heated up in 2023

Branded smart TV efforts came as both Roku and Vizio executives suggested this year that the era of the streaming dongle is dead and earlier data from Parks Associates’ found sales of connected TV med...

Interactivity, shoppability, new formats make their way to CTV advertising in 2023

In a November column Parks Associates’ Eric Sorensen, director of Streaming Video Tracker, zeroed in on the growth of ad-supported streaming and evolution of formats. “Innovative ad formats, such a...