Nick Khan weighs in on WWE‘s early work with ESPN.
In September, WWE inked a five-year deal with ESPN that would bring its main roster premium live events to ESPN DTC, a new direct-to-consumer streaming service, for fans in the United States. Additionally, select events will air on other ESPN platforms.
During the TKO Q3 earnings call, WWE President Nick Khan addressed how WWE officials are reacting to the company’s new relationship with ESPN.
“By the way, we’re thrilled with the start of it,” Khan said. “So it’s obviously a new product, it’s a new platform. If you notice any of the promotion going into our first event with them, Wrestlepalooza, which is a new event for us, which we’re really pleased with. You saw wall-to-wall coverage on all ESPN platforms, so much so that on College Game Day, the morning of Wrestlepalooza, you had the entire panel. Pat McAfee, Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Rece Davis all predicting the winner of Brock Lesnar versus John Cena. It was phenomenal.
“It’s going to take time for ESPN to grow that platform the way that they want to grow it,” he added. “We’re patient. We’ll continue to put on our product the way that we think only we can do. Let’s see where we end up.”
As Khan mentioned, WWE made its ESPN DTC debut on September 20 with Wrestlepalooza. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes headlined the PLE with a successful title defense against Drew McIntyre. Brock Lesnar and John Cena opened the show, with the former destroying the latter with a series of F5s.
According to a report from Antenna, WWE was one of the reasons ESPN saw a “massive spike” in signups. Those numbers, along with college and pro football starting, are one reason why Sports Business Journal‘s Austin Karp deemed ESPN’s app a success on The Sports Media Podcast‘s “Who’s Up, Who’s Down” segment.
RELATED: Nick Khan Defends WWE Decision To Raise Ticket Prices
