WWE Network vis-a-vis ROH

[Burnside]

So - in an era where the WWE network is priced at $10/month and includes live streaming of all their monthly PPVs, including Wrestlemania, on multiple platforms, how long can ROH continue to charge $15 a pop for individual VODs of shows available only after a delay of a week or more and not available on Roku, AppleTV, Playstation, or XBox?

[The Dragon Saga]

Considering 12th Anniversary is expected up today, the delay isn't going to be a week.

But yeah they need to restructure the pricing of events and the ringside membership scheme as a whole. We've already discussed this multiple times in multiple threads.

[BTW10]

DVDs still being $20 is ludicrous too.

[classic-cabana]

As I've said elsewhere ROH need to up their game in regards to ringside membership. They don't have to compete price wise just quantity. Id be happy to pay more per month if the package included all the latest VODs, say $20 a month.

[Braggis]

ROH really can't do anything about it.

The reason WWE can get away with only charging $10 for their content is because their fanbase is so fucking huge, just the sheer volume of subscribers/purchasers will turn them a profit. And they know it.

ROH doesn't have the astronomical fanbase WWE has so - when they sell merch - they have to almost micromange every detail and charge more so everbody can be compensated. ROH probably sells a few thousand DVDs/VODs/assorted merch whereas WWE is selling MILLIONS, possibly even billions.

There really is nothing ROH can do. They are forced to be structured a different way.

[Mr. Orange]

Honestly paying 15 dollars for the ringside membership should get you more. I have it but now that WWE network is out I want more to be available to me. You should be allowed to stream all the shows for 2002 to 2012. The newer shows I could understand having to pay for. Or at least there should be a good amount of the old shows up that people want to see.

[supersonic]

For the Gabe era shows to be made available in full, Sinclair will have to treat them like Highspots does with PWG releases.

[DBSommer]

So - in an era where the WWE network is priced at $10/month and includes live streaming of all their monthly PPVs, including Wrestlemania, on multiple platforms, how long can ROH continue to charge $15 a pop for individual VODs of shows available only after a delay of a week or more and not available on Roku, AppleTV, Playstation, or XBox?

Same way mom and pop stores compete against Walmart.

You don't. You just scrounge for every buck you can get any way you can and stay afloat as long as you can.

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

ROH really can't do anything about it.

The reason WWE can get away with only charging $10 for their content is because their fanbase is so fucking huge, just the sheer volume of subscribers/purchasers will turn them a profit. And they know it.

ROH doesn't have the astronomical fanbase WWE has so - when they sell merch - they have to almost micromange every detail and charge more so everbody can be compensated. ROH probably sells a few thousand DVDs/VODs/assorted merch whereas WWE is selling MILLIONS, possibly even billions.

There really is nothing ROH can do. They are forced to be structured a different way.

Exactly. It's widely reported WWE needs 1 million subscribers just to break even in their first year, and to continue to increase membership to break even in subsequent years. They're expecting a loss for the first year or two, but with a company like WWE they probably look at a financial plan of 10+ years.

With ROH, there's now way they get a even a tiny fraction of those membership numbers, and personally I think they would get a majority of the hard core fans to sign up and then little growth after that. Plus any loss they take on start up could be detrimental to the company. It's a lot harder to say "we're willing to take a big loss now and make money in 5 years" because who knows if the company, or any significant indy companies will even be around in that time.

[Burnside]

I think they need to go to a $20 monthly Ringside Membership which includes all VODs as they are released. And I don't think they'd lose money doing that.

And there's really no excuse whatsoever for them not having an app allowing you to easily play the shows on Roku and other systems. There are many companies that are even more rinky-dink than ROH that manage to do that (GoFightLive, for example).

[jordidebaas]

The reason all of this probably won´t happen is because SBG doesn´t really give a shit about anything but the TV show.