On Monday, WWE (NYSE: WWE) announced that WWE Network, one of the early streaming video on-demand services, has hit a record number of subscribers. Following Sunday night’s WrestleMania, WWE Network now has 1.95 million total subscribers, a 7 percent increase after last year’s event on April 4, 2016.

WWE Network now has approximately 1.45 million domestic subscribers, a 4 percent increase, and approximately 497,000 international subscribers, a 15 percent increase over subscriber totals the day after WrestleMania last year. As of April 3, 2017, paid subscribers were 1.66 million, including 1.24 million domestic viewers and 424,000 international viewers. The total subscriber numbers include paid + free trial subscribers.

It didn’t hurt that John Cena proposed to Nikki Bella at WrestleMania either.

“Results today demonstrate that we are effectively executing our multi-platform content strategy,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO, in a statement. “WWE Network continues to drive transformative growth for our company and is a key element of our global content ecosystem, which includes traditional television, digital and social platforms and our direct-to-consumer service (WWE Network).”

“With nearly 2 million total subscribers, more households than ever before watched WrestleMania on WWE Network,” said George Barrios, WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer. “Given the ongoing strong growth of WWE Network, we continue to expect record subscriber levels and record revenue in 2017 as we achieve targeted record profits.”

In its announcement, WWE shared engagement highlights:

• WrestleMania broke attendance records at the Orlando Citrus Bowl with 75,245 fans from all over the world.
• During WrestleMania week, subscribers watched 22.5 million hours, which is an average of 13 hours per subscriber, a 4 percent increase over last year’s average of 21.7 million hours.
• WrestleMania was made available in China on pay-per-view for the first time.
• Digital and social media video views hit 133 million on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, a 105 percent increase over last year.
• WrestleMania had a record 18 million social media fan engagements, a 66 percent increase over last year.
• For the first quarter, WWE Network attracted an average of about 1.49 million paid subscribers, a 16 percent increase over the first quarter 2016 average.

[Note: The number of total subscribers does not include pay-per-view buys through cable and satellite TV providers.]

Comparing this year’s results to last year’s for subscriber acquisition and retention driven by WrestleMania this quarter, WWE estimates the average number of paid subscribers for the second quarter to be about 1.63 million, an increase of approximately 8 percent over Q2 2016.

WWE launched the WWE Network in February 2014. By November 2014, the network had added approximately 731,000 subscribers to the streaming video service. WWE Network offers more than 7,500 hours of on-demand programming, live events and original shows 24/7. It can be streamed through a Smart TV, Apple, TV, Fire TV, Roku or watched on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet. In the U.S., WWE Network is $9.99 a month following a month-long free trial.

Insider Take:

As one of the early adopters of the OTT format, WWE has seen success with WWE Network which is only one portion of its media entertainment business. While growth has slowed somewhat, WWE Network continues to put up record numbers. For example, in Q4 2016, WWE Network had 1.41 million average paid subscribers, a 14 percent increase. It also reported record revenue of $729.2 million, the highest in company history.

We believe WWE has been successful with WWE Network because it knows its audience and the entertainment they want to see. They’ve been successful reaching that audience in various formats (pay-per-view, SVOD, social media, live events, etc.) and leveraging that loyalty to form long-term relationships, increasing their customers’ lifetime value. Like Netflix, they have set an excellent example of how to attract and retain subscribers for the long haul.