While All Elite Wrestling has plenty of weekly programming, one avenue it has yet to expand into is streaming. AEW’s broadcast relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery has led many to believe that AEW content will eventually be available on Max, but that has yet to happen. With AEW having already four years of history under its belt, Tony Khan’s wrestling promotion has an abundance of content ready for a streaming service whenever the opportunity arises. Mix in the entire Ring of Honor content library, which currently exists on Honor Club, and it’s clear that an AEW-branded streamer already has the backlog ready.
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AEW Streaming Service Coming Soon?
AEW filed a trademark for “AEW PLUS” on July 24th. The full trademark description can be read below…
Mark For: AEW PLUS trademark registration is intended to cover the category of streaming of professional wrestling entertainment video material on the Internet.
“As we build a great library of historical content, it presents more and more opportunities for a potential FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) entry I think,” AEW President Tony Khan said earlier this year. “I think that’s a decision we need to make in part with our domestic media partners, with Warner Bros. Discovery, who have great presence in the world of streaming, and figure out what makes sense for us in terms of our partnership. Because absolutely there is money on the table for streaming pro wrestling events…So there could be great opportunities there.
“Domestically we’re still looking for the right solution, and it’s a very exciting time for us because the streaming business continues to grow here domestically and frankly the value of AEW events continues to grow. I believe as the landscape changes we can expand AEW’s streaming revenue multiple times over.”
What Would AEW PLUS Mean For Pay-Per-Views?
Reports emerged earlier this summer that Warner Bros. Discovery was looking to expand AEW’s pay-per-view calendar, likely due to the satisfaction with the company’s buyrates for the premium live events. Considering the precedent set by other professional wrestling streaming services like NJPW World and WWE Network on Peacock, wrestling fans would likely expect to get AEW’s PPVs on AEW PLUS without an additional charge.
AEW launching a streamer would indicate confidence that their potential subscriber count would yield more revenue than their pay-per-view buys. AEW PPVs costing $50 dollars and regularly doing around 150,000 buys at five times per year which equates to roughly $37.5 million dollars. For an AEW streamer to match that revenue, it would need just over 312,000 subscribers paying $10 dollars per month.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on AEW PLUS.
