Why Did WWE Move to Peacock?

We take a look at the reasons behind WWE’s move to Peacock and what it could mean for the future of the company.

WWE’s partnership with NBCUniversal

WWE’s partnership with NBCUniversal goes back over 20 years, and it was a relationship that saw WWE programming air on various NBCUniversal networks, including USA Network, Syfy, and MTV. In January 2020, it was announced that WWE’s flagship shows Raw and Smackdown would be moving to NBCUniversal’s new streaming service Peacock. So why did WWE make the move to Peacock?

There are a few reasons why WWE decided to move its programming to Peacock. First, Peacock is a purely streaming service, which means that WWE will no longer have to worry about its content being preempted by other NBCUniversal programming or events. Second, Peacock is available nationwide in the United States, whereas USA Network is only available in about two-thirds of the country. This gives WWE a larger potential audience for its product.

third, and perhaps most importantly, NBCUniversal has made a significant financial investment in WWE as part of the Peacock deal. This investment will allow WWE to produce even more original content for Peacock, as well as expand its existing slate of programming. In other words, WWE is betting big on the success of Peacock, and it seems like a smart move for the company.

WWE’s move to Peacock

On January 18th, 2021, WWE and NBCUniversal announced that WWE Network will be migrating to Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service. The news sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling community as WWE had spent the past six years building WWE Network into a must-have streaming service for wrestling fans. So why did WWE make the move? Let’s take a look.

Reasons for the move

On January 18, 2021, it was announced that WWE had reached a multi-year agreement with NBCUniversal for their flagship shows Raw and SmackDown to move to Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, beginning on March 18. This ended WWE’s long relationship with USA Network, a sister channel to NBC. Here are some reasons why WWE decided to make the move.

WWE wants to be where the young viewers are. A major reason WWE decided to move was because they wanted to be where the young viewers are. And right now, that’s on streaming platforms. According to a report by MoffettNathanson, 43% of U.S. homes have at least one streaming service, and that number is expected to grow to 55% by 2025.What’s more, people between the ages of 18 and 34 are three times as likely as those over 55 to say they’ve cut the cord on cable TV in favor of streaming services. That’s the demographic WWE is after.

It’s a win-win for both WWE and Peacock. For Peacock, landing WWE is a major coup as it looks to attract more subscribers (it had 26 million sign-ups as of December 2020). It also helps that WWE has a huge social media following — its YouTube channel has over 44 million subscribers, its Twitter account has over 14 million followers, and its Instagram account has over 11 million followers. For WWE, the move gives it access to Peacock’s vast distribution network and promotion capabilities — which it can use to reach new audiences and grow its brand even further.

The deal includes exclusive content for Peacock subscribers. As part of the deal between WWE and NBCUniversal, Raw and SmackDown will continue to air live on Monday and Friday nights at 8 p.m ET/PT on USA Network — but only for those who have a subscription to Peacock Premium (which costs $4.99 per month). For everyone else, Raw and SmackDown will air live on USA Network one week after they air on Peacock. In addition, there will be new exclusive content for Peacock subscribers, including an expanded two-hour version of Raw (which will air live on Mondays at 8 p.m ET/PT) and a new one-hour show called SmackDown On Thursdays (which will air live at 8 p.m ET/PT).

What this means for WWE fans

WWE fans will now have to sign up for Peacock Premium in order to watch RAW, SmackDown, and NXT live as well as on-demand. The service costs $4.99 per month with ads or $9.99 per month without ads. WWE Network will cease to exist as a standalone service on April 4th and will be replaced by WWE on Peacock.

While this move may be seen as a positive by some, others are not so thrilled. Many WWE fans are skeptical of the new service and are concerned about what this means for the future of the WWE Network. There is also the matter of price. $4.99 per month is not necessarily a bad price, but it is more expensive than the $9.99 per month that WWE Network currently costs. And while you do get a lot of content with Peacock Premium, some fans feel that they are being asked to pay too much for something that they could get cheaper elsewhere.

At the end of the day, only time will tell if this move was a good or bad decision for WWE. For now, fans will just have to wait and see how things play out.

How this will affect WWE’s future

The WWE moving to Peacock is a pretty big deal. It’s a sign that the company is serious about streaming and that they are willing to make a long term commitment to it. This could mean big things for the WWE in terms of their future.

Positive effects

WWE’s move to Peacock will have a number of positive effects on the company’s future. First, it will bring WWE’s content to a wider audience. Peacock is available in more than 85 million homes, and it is expected to reach more than 100 million homes by the end of 2021. This is a big increase from the approximately 60 million homes that WWE’s content was available on when it was solely on the WWE Network.

Second, the move will give WWE more control over its content. On the WWE Network, WWE had to share advertising revenue with its partners, including Comcast (which owns NBCUniversal, which in turn owns Peacock). Now that WWE is the sole owner of its content on Peacock, it will keep all of the revenue from advertising and subscriptions. This will give WWE a much needed boost in revenue, which can be used to invest in new talent and improve its product.

Third, the move will allow WWE to experiment with new types of content. For example, Peacock offers an “On Demand” service that allows viewers to watch episodes of shows whenever they want. This is in contrast to the linear programming model that WWE has used for years, where viewers can only watch shows that air at specific times. With On Demand, WWE can release new episodes of shows whenever they want and viewers can watch them at their convenience. This could lead to a change in how wrestling shows are produced and presented, as On Demand allows for a more flexible approach.

Finally, the move to Peacock gives WWE a chance to start fresh with its image and branding. The company has been criticized in recent years for becoming too family-friendly and losing touch with its core audience of young adults. Moving to Peacock provides an opportunity for WWE to rebrand itself as an edgier and more youthful product. This could attract new viewers and help increase ratings

Negative effects

While the new partnership between WWE and Peacock is certainly a cause for celebration among wrestling fans, it could have some negative consequences for WWE in the long run.

First and foremost, the move to Peacock is likely to result in a significantly lower number of viewers for WWE programming. This is because, unlike with the WWE Network, Peacock does not offer a free tier of service. In order to watch any WWE content on Peacock, viewers will have to sign up for the premium tier, which costs $4.99 per month.

What this means is that many casual fans who were previously able to watch WWE programming for free on the WWE Network will now have to pay to see it. And while $4.99 per month may not seem like a lot of money, it could still be enough to dissuade some casual fans from signing up for Peacock.

In addition, the move to Peacock is also likely to result in a reduction in revenue for WWE. This is because, while the cost of subscribing to the premium tier of Peacock is $4.99 per month, this only gets you access to standard definition content. If you want to watch content in high definition, you’ll have to subscribe to the premium plus tier, which costs an additional $9.99 per month.