WWE
#Those are big questions, Rob, obviously, with no clear answers.
Look, our view when these transactions happen, and again whether they're happening in the US or any other market we're in, what's really important to us is there is a vibrant kind of competitive market for content.
And as long as that exists, to your latter point, our numbers are our numbers.
They're pretty powerful and it's public and everybody can see them.
Everybody can see the engagement metrics, everyone can see the consumption metrics, everybody can see the ratings numbers.
And again, I'm just speaking about the US and India, UK and Germany.
So as long as the market dynamics are such that that it's competitive, we feel that we bring a ton of value to a partner when we license content to them and therefore, we feel that we'll do well economically.
I think the last ---+ you had a middle point there about the value of content and you rightfully point it out.
In some cases, we're talking about aggregators of content coming together, or aggregators of content coming together with distributors of content.
We're fundamentally different in the value chain.
We are the creators and owners of the content.
And as creators and owners, back to those three platforms, we think that gives us a pretty good position, whether we're distributing on third-party AVOD platforms or our O&Os, whether we're distributing within a bundle.
And whether that bundle is a traditional facilities based bundler or a virtual bundler, we think we bring value there.
Or whether we're going direct to consumer.
So the fact that we create it and own it obviously is a super differentiating factor compared to a lot of the people you mentioned in terms of coming together, which for the most part tend to be aggregators and then distributors.
So we feel good about where we stand.
Yes, I mean, we like to think of our ---+ when we license content to any partner around the world, so whether it's BSkyB in the UK or Fox in Latin America or OSN in the Middle East or Zee in India, soon to be Sony, it looks like, but whatever partner, we tend to look at it as more than just we're going to license your content and then step away.
We've never done business like that.
Actually the way we view it is we're going to license the content and then we're going to work with you really, really closely to make it as valuable to you as possible.
Obviously, we benefit as well.
But the real focus is working with our partners to make them as successful as possible utilizing the content.
So that's what we do with NBCU.
Look, I think it's fair to say over the last three years ---+ and we've had a long partnership with NBCU or its predecessor organizations, but <UNK> mentioned the 50 blue chip advertisers over the last two years.
We think that's a little bit of a sea change and I think it reflects probably on both our parts an even stronger commitment to working together to accomplish what I said before, which is driving up their business.
So we think they're really excited about what the last two years have brought; we are too.
We're really happy for them.
And obviously that accrues to our benefit eventually, we think, but the partnership has been great.
As far as theme parks and so on, as you know we're going to be in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl next year for WrestleMania.
As you know it's more than just a one-day event, it's kind of a weeklong extravaganza.
So my guess is, stay tuned; we'll probably mention a few things about what we're doing with NBC Universal around that.
I'll quote <UNK>, we're open for business.
I mean I don't know, a better way to say.
That's kind of the way we view everything, is what's best for the brand long-term and short-term.
So yes, so the short answer to your question is, of course, we would.
Rob if I didn't know you better, I would assume that you were applying for a job in our subscription marketing group.
Because I think some of those ideas I have seen on lists somewhere.
So, look I said it before, so get out of the in-the-moment financial results or the operation of the network, which is great, like as you mentioned, it's our second biggest business and we got there in two years, it's our second most profitable business and it's our fastest growing business so far in 2016.
So that feels good.
Strategically over the long-term, and you touched on it, we think the network becomes the hub of how we interact and connect with our most-passionate fans.
And you mentioned a few of the examples and so the answer is yes, we're definitely considering that.
And then also as I mentioned strategically, it also gives us a direct connection to those fans around the world to any broadband enabled home, where you can watch it on the big screen, little screen, cast it to the big screen, however you choose to do it.
So, strategically those are the real drivers of value we believe in the network.
But a lot of the examples you brought out, you're going to see things like that.
Again I'm not going to make news, but here in the next few months, I'm sure you'll see something and go, oh yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking might make sense.
But we're going to do it smartly, and we'll do it iteratively.
What we don't want to do is confuse our audience.
The product itself is the experience, and the simplicity of it is really important, so we want to be smart about it.
But I think you'll see some experimentation around the topics that you mentioned.
Yes.
I think the reason we give a range around on the guide gets to the point of normal variability.
It's really hard to point it out precisely.
So we kind of look at historical levels, and use that to inform our model for projections.
But we know there is variability, that's why we put a range around it.
About the specificity of your question, I would rather stay away, out of that, because I would be guessing more than providing the answer, so I'll leave it at that.
That's right.
We had people talk us about, well, was the attraction maybe not what you expected, is it the political season that's kind of drowning out people's attention, is it the Olympics back in August.
So everybody has got theories, it's hard to kind of point it out, which is why I want to stay away from kind of attributing to any of those.
It's more just based on the data.
Yes.
Look, they've been a great partner with us.
And their proficiency is a big part of the success of WWE Network.
That's why we're the fifth largest SVOD service coming out of the US.
And so what they do, they do well and they've been a big partner.
As far as the Disney investment, we'll just let our eyes kind of evaluate over time like we would do with any service provider and we'll see how well the work gets done, how fast, how good it is, and then we'll just judge using those metrics what we do moving forward.
So that's kind of our perspective on BAM.
I think the bundling question is outside of BAM.
I think that becomes more of a question, does it make sense.
And whenever we look at ---+ and we have looked at, <UNK> ---+ bundling opportunities in a variety of different ways, there's three things we look at.
Number one, the economics; do we think they'll be accretive.
Number two, the customer information.
As I mentioned before, every day we get more global, more digital and more direct-to-consumer and we love the direct-to-consumer businesses that we have, not just the network, but our e-commerce business.
Our O&O business, our selling of tickets direct-to-consumer ---+ through third parties, but where we have the customer information.
So economics, number one, unbundling; number two, customer information; and number three being the viewership and engagement metrics.
We are so much smarter about the content on WWE Network because we can measure the engagement in so many different ways, not average viewers, not a ratings metric, but real deep metrics: start/stop times, repeatability of the content, viewership to completion.
That really gives us more insight into the success of the content than we get on any other piece of content we do.
So, economics, customer information and engagement data.
If we could get offers where we think that makes sense, yes, bundles could definitely be a possibility.
Thank you everyone.
We appreciate you listening to the call today.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us.
Thank you.
