Triple H Explains the Importance of Live Content for WWE, Why WWE Phased Out Its Streaming Service

Appearing at the All-In Summit, WWE Chief Creative Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque discussed the importance of WWE’s live experience for its digital media platforms and broadcast partners, along with WWE being at the forefront of developing entertainment platforms.

Triple H also noted WWE opting to phase out its own over-the-top streaming service now that WWE has streaming deals set up at Netflix for Raw and its library overseas, and the ESPN App for the monthly PLEs.

Triple H explained that with streaming, WWE realized they were in a tech war that they were not ready for, hence why they eventually phased out the WWE Network. Below are some highlights:

Triple H on the Bifurcation of Media Content and the WWE Live Experience Versus Digital Media

“Well, it’s a live experience, but I think all those things lead you to the live experience. So, where do you tell the stories that get you to want to go to the live event? We tell those stories across digital platforms. We have right around a billion social media followers across the globe. We’re one of the largest social presences. I’m not a stat guy, so I’ll screw some of this up, but number one YouTube channel across all sports. I’m not sure where we’re at, but we’re in the top 10 of YouTube channels across everything. You know, our social presence is second to none. Those monetize on their own, or they do monetize, but we also see them as drivers to everything else right now. So, our products now, Raw airs domestically in the US on Netflix, but is viewed globally on Netflix every place else right. So, outside of the US, Raw, Smackdown, all our shows are on Netflix globally. Monday nights on Netflix globally, Tuesday nights, NXT, which is our sort of AAA baseball or our college football, if you would that airs on The CW cross-broadcast. Friday nights, we’re on USA with NBCU still. We have Saturday Night’s Main Event on Peacock.”

On WWE’s Audience Still Having an Affinity for Live Content and Why the WWE Network Was Phased Out

“1000%. So our biggest events are PLEs. We just did a game-changing announcement where we’re we’re moving them over to ESPN here starting up, and you know, nobody does large-scale build to events like ESPN does. So that will be massive for us. We’ve always sort of been in the forefront of that. When WrestleMania started, it was closed circuit, you know, we pioneered closed circuit entertainment where you would go to a theater and watch the broadcast. We pioneered the pay-per-view industry when streaming was just coming into play. We were one of the first movers into — we had our own WWE Network. So when it was kind of Netflix and us, we then realized that over time, that’s going to be a tech war that we’re not suited for. It’s not what we do. We pulled out of that. We went over to Peacock. We’re now on Netflix. We’re on ESPN. You know, we’re across the board.”

On how WWE Creating Original Live Content Every Week Makes Them Very Attractive to ESPN and Other Media Partners

“Well, the beautiful thing about us is with the amount of content we do, we’re 52 weeks a year live. So, when you talk about a content company that puts out entertainment, we are live Monday nights, two to three hours, depending on the evening, on Netflix. Tuesday nights, two hours on CW, Friday nights, two hours, and half the year is three hours on USA. Once a month, a three-hour-plus PLE, Saturday Night’s Main Event, quarterly or more per year. That’s all live, that’s all content that we’re putting out on a regular basis to go back to the live event experience, our live event, our ticketing, our live event experience numbers are off the chart, and that’s global. We were just in Paris. We did the stadium in Paris, France, on a Friday night, a PLE on a Sunday night in a stadium in Paris, France, where we had 30-plus thousand there, and then we did Monday Night Raw from Paris in that same stadium with a little over 20,000 there for TV the next night, came straight back to the US. So, it’s every single week that amount of live content. But the way to see us is live.”

On the WWE Live Experience and How to Make a New Fan

“If anybody is a fan of the band KISS, KISS, when they were in the 70s, were like the hottest live act in the world, but they weren’t selling albums. They thought if there was a way we could just get people to experience what we do live on an album, it will change the game for us. They did a live one. It exploded. When live albums didn’t sell anything because it captured them live. It’s the same for us. I say this all the time. If we want to make a WWE fan, if we’re working with a partner, and they’re kind of on the fence or they’re not super into what we do, we bring them to what we do live. We bring them to WrestleMania. We bring them to a stadium show. We bring them to an arena event. And when you have 30,000 people to, you know, 50, 60, 80,000 people in a stadium going insane, it is electric. There is no way that you leave there and go, ‘Eh.'”

As previously reported, the WWE Network is still active in some international markets where Netflix doesn’t have the rights to stream WWE programming due to preexisting deals that predate the WWE streaming deal with Netflix. Also, WWE Network began shutting down overseas, where Netflix was available earlier this year.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit the All-In Podcast, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.