WWE is heading to Netflix. This past January, the sports-entertainment giant announced that it would be bringing its flagship show, WWE Monday Night Raw, to the red and black streaming service beginning in 2025. Netflix spared no expense in acquiring WWE Raw, as the deal is valued at $5 billion over the course of ten years. This marks the first time in WWE Raw history that the show will not be broadcast on network television, as it had previously lived on NBCUniversal’s USA Network for the majority of its lifespan. WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke glowingly about WWE’s new television partners during the WWE Royal Rumble press conference, and as evident by recent comments from top Netflix executives, that enthusiasm is a two-way street.
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Netflix Executives Hype WWE Raw’s Arrival
Netflix is buzzing about its WWE partnership.
“It’s a great entertainment product so having something that we can have on weekly 52 weeks a year,” Netflix VP of Nonfiction Bandon Riegg said during the Next on Netflix press event. “It has a very passionate, dedicated fanbase and I think many of those we have on Netflix as members already. The beauty, to me, is they’re going to be able to tap into a much larger audience. Introducing it to a new set of fans as well as servicing existing fans that were either already Netflix subscribers or will come over. Either way is a win. The truth is we don’t know how much bigger it can get.”
Riegg’s comments put words to what was already known regarding Netflix’s excitement about the WWE product, considering it is forking over $5 billion for WWE Raw. With Netflix budgeting itself to $17 billion per year on content, many initially analyzed the WWE cost as much larger than it actually is.
“It’s three hours, weekly, 52 weeks live programming a year so if you look at what percentage of the budget that is, it’s actually really very small,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria pointed out. “You can think of it as a couple movies and a series or a couple of series and a movie.”
While Netflix has done a couple of one-off livestreams in the past, WWE represents its first foray into a weekly, serialized live product.
“No entertainment company has tried to program with this ambition, for this many tastes, cultures and languages. Ever,” Bajaria added. “It’s why at Netflix we can’t define ourselves narrowly. Even though many of you would always like us to, we can’t. We have to think much more broadly about who’s watching and what they want.”
WWE Raw heads to Netflix in January 2025. For now, WWE Raw can be seen every Monday night at 8 PM ET on USA Network.
