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

25% Of Smartphone Owners Use Payment Apps Monthly

The report from Parks Associates found that shoppers showed a preference for retailers' mobile payment programs such as Starbucks over larger payment systems including Apple Pay, Google Wallet and And...

Securing Smart Homes From Hackers

Parks Associates have predicted more than 50 million connected homes by 2020. With that being the scale of device connections, it is high time for developers to prioritise protecting customer data....

Amazon Music Unlimited Streaming Service Is Ready for Prime Time

As Amazon launches its standalone Music Unlimited streaming service, research firm Parks Associates has been reminding the industry of the popularity of the company's existing Prime Music offering, ba...

Report: Consumers’ Growing Appetite For Solar, Storage And Bundled Home Energy Services

The number of broadband households that have adopted rooftop solar panels doubled to 4 percent in the period 2013 to 2015. Seven percent of U.S. broadband households said they plan to purchase solar p...