With over four years of original content already in its arsenal, All Elite Wrestling is primed to bring its content library to a streaming service sooner than later. With AEW airing all of its weekly broadcast content on Warner Bros. Discovery channels TNT and TBS, corporate synergy would suggest that the company’s go-to streaming partner would be WBD’s Max. While nothing has been made official, AEW President Tony Khan has not been shy about expressing his desire to bring AEW content to the former HBO Max. Considering AEW is in ongoing negotiations with WBD for a new television rights deal, it’s possible that an addition to that new deal could be a streaming partnership.
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Tony Khan “Would Love” AEW on Max
Speaking to CNBC ahead of AEW ALL IN: London, AEW President Tony Khan reiterated AEW’s streaming value, once again emphasizing his desire to bring his wrestling company to Max.
“I think those US streaming rights are very valuable. Potentially we could land, I would love, on Max. I think that would be an amazing thing,” Khan said. “Max is certainly my favorite streaming platform. It’s the streaming platform of my bosses at Warner Bros. Discovery, the people that carry AEW in the US, India, and many great territories. I believe that together we can come up with something really special. If it was up to me, I would love to land on Max.”
It’s worth noting that AEW filed a trademark for “AEW PLUS” on July 24th in the category of “streaming of professional wrestling entertainment video material on the Internet.”
What Would An AEW Streaming Deal Mean For Pay-Per-Views?
Professional wrestling was forever changed in 2014 when WWE launched WWE Network. This in-house streaming service gave subscribers access to WWE’s entire tape library, dozens of original shows, and monthly pay-per-views at no extra charge. Over the course of the decade, consumers got used to this model, and WWE abandoned having its special shows on pay-per-view completely, opting to host these rebranded “premium live events” exclusively air on its streaming service.
While AEW has significantly less premium live events than WWE, the general consumer would likely expect to have access to live AEW pay-per-views upon a streaming deal. AEW pay-per-views currently cost $50 and typically average 150,000 buys. Across five shows per year, this equates to roughly $37.5 million dollars annually. For AEW to match that valuation, it would need just over 312,000 subscribers paying $10 per month.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on AEW and Max.
