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

Nearly a Quarter of U.S. Households Think Movies and Music Should be Free

That’s according to a survey released this week by Parks Associates. “Almost half of pirates believe stealing content is acceptable because there are no consequences to the behavior” Jennifer Kent,...

Why It’s Time to Consider Offering Presence Detection

"In my previous column, I mentioned some of the world-class technologies highlighted at Parks Associates’ CONNECTIONS Conference held in Frisco, Texas, in May. One of the presentations that caught my...

Parks Finds 71 Percent of Broadband Households With Wi-Fi or Apple AirPort

There are 30 percent more computing devices, as well as 45 percent more connected devices, on average in U.S. broadband households with Wi-Fi access as compared to those without it, according to new m...

Parks Finds Smartwatch Adoption in 14% of U.S. Broadband Households

Smartwatches are increasingly popular while tablets may have peaked, according to research from Parks Associates. The “360 View: Mobility & The App Economy” report found that smartwatch adoption reach...