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What's the story?
The WWE Network is finally heading to China after the organisation announced a tie-up with PPTV as a subscription video-on-demand service.
This is the first time the WWE Network will be available in China and is set to launch exclusively on PPTV from 18 August.
In case you didn't know...
The WWE Network is available in more than 180 countries and China has been a market which the head honchos have been steadily moving into.
The company had announced last year that WWE RAW and SmackDown would be shown on PPTV in Mandarin. The multi-year deal also brought many network short-form content on the platform and also enabled the sharing of content on social media outlets such as WeChat and Weibo.
The heart of the matter
PPTV customers will have to download the PPTV App and then watch the network via a range of options such as set-top boxes or mobile devices.
They can also watch the WWE Network on a number of websites and of course, a lot of the pay-per-views will be available exclusively in Mandarin.
“When we began our exclusive partnership with WWE, we brought WWE’s signature programming, Raw and SmackDown, to PPTV and received a great response from WWE fans in China,” Godfrey Zeng, Executive Vice President of Suning Sports Media, parent company of PPTV said.
“In April, we offered WrestleMania as a pay-per-view event, and again, our fans responded enthusiastically. We are now launching WWE Network on PPTV and presenting the entire lineup of WWE pay-per-views and other premium content to continue to better serve WWE fans in China."
Michelle Wilson, the Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer of the WWE was also pleased with the deal.
“With this launch, WWE Network is now available in every market, reaching more than 180 countries around the world, delivering all our premium live events and an archive of action-packed, family-friendly entertainment that has thrilled WWE audiences for years.”
What's next?
The expansion continues for the WWE and with this new deal, Chinese viewers can enjoy the best of programming from the promotion.
The next big event coming up is SummerSlam and fans will be expecting a lot of action from the main events.
Author's take
WrestleMania was beamed for the first time via PPTV this year and things should only get better for audiences in the Asian country.
What is a bit of a surprise is that the WWE is working in tandem with PPTV and that could be due to the strict laws that are in force in that country.
Breaking into the massive Chinese market would only mean better numbers for the WWE Network, which has been on a steady growth even though many were sceptical when the service was initially launched.
