Less than two weeks out from the official announcement of the ‘UFC Fight Pass’ digital network, a new WWE Network has been announced that appears to offer fans substantially more bang for their buck.
Like ‘Fight Pass’, the ‘WWE Network’, which was announced yesterday at the CES 2014 technology show, will cost $9.99 and offers access to their entire library of events, but where it completely outguns the UFC’s offering is that the WWE are also rolling all 12 of their yearly live pay-per-view events into the subscription too.
By contrast, the UFC’s service doesn’t include any of their pay-per-view shows, providing exclusive access to at least 10 lower-tier international ‘Fight Night’ cards live instead.
The UFC are offering a two month free trial to ‘Fight Pass’ at the moment though which outdoes the WWE’s one week trial, and it should also be noted that the pro-wrestling outfit’s subscription requires a minimum 6 month commitment to begin with, but given that their flagship ‘Wrestlemania’ PPV would cost more than that on it’s own, that’s unlikely to deter WWE fans.
So, on the face of it the WWE have completely overshadowed the UFC here which will be a concern given that they are both primarily attempting to entice the coveted 18-34 year-old male demographic to part with their cash on a monthly basis.
There’s a reason behind the WWE’s apparent generosity with their new subscription service however, and that’s due to the fact that interest and profits in most of their PPV shows has been dwindling in recent years and is not their main revenue generator, while for the UFC pay-per-view is still the biggest single part of their business and remains very profitable.
So, for the WWE this could prove to be a way to boost their bottom line, while if the UFC were to follow suit at this price they’d take a huge hit financially.
With that in mind, don’t be expecting the UFC to offer any knee-jerk changes to their own service as a result of the WWE’s announcement.
