World Wrestling Entertainment is ramping up its presence in China, making its most popular shows streamable in Mandarin and introducing its first Chinese star in the latest US entertainment push to tap the country’s rising middle class.
“Because of what’s happening in China today, in terms of being more open to western content . . . we’ve reached an inflection point,” said George Barrios, WWE chief strategy and financial officer.
WWE has struck a multiyear distribution deal with PPTV, a Chinese digital video service with more than 400m users, under which its long-running shows Raw and SmackDown will be available for streaming a few hours after they air in the US.