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Stephanie McMahon and WWE's Chief Financial Officer George A. Barrios took part in a WWE presentation on 1/13 in New York City at 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference for investors.
During the presentation, it was stated that the company believes there are 98 million broadband homes that feature WWE fans. The company believes they can convert 3-4 million of those into WWE Network subscribers over time.
While noting they are about to officially launch in Ireland and Great Britain, other countries that were noted that they want to expand the WWE Network into included India, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
While discussing the company's television, they stated Raw's audience averages 4.6 million viewers a week while Smackdown averages 3 million weekly. They pointed out the increase in TV rights fees with their new deals, noting they have increased from $78 million in 2004 all the way up to $171 million as this past September. All of their major deals are locked up through 2018 and by then, they will be bringing in another $100 million in revenue.
The remainder of the presentation was reviewing the company's presence on different platforms and noting how the company builds brands, including:
*They now own 130,000 hours of content in their libraries.
*The WWE Network went from 1,000 hours of content to 2,500 hours of VOD content since it's launch.
*The big catalysts for future business are the growth of the WWE Network, capitalizing on their social media popularity and monetizing it, their existing and new TV deals and continuing to build their brand.
*They are now available in over 170 countries worldwide with the Network.
*Another goal for the company going forward is to continue improve the WWE Studios film business.
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