WWE has reached a groundbreaking agreement with Netflix, designating the streaming giant as the exclusive home for the company's flagship show, Monday Night RAW, starting in January 2025.
This marks the first instance in its 31-year history that RAW will transition from traditional broadcast television to a streaming platform.
The agreement is valued at $5 billion over ten years, signifying that Netflix will pay WWE $500 million per year over the next decade.
Netflix will serve as the exclusive new platform for RAW in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Latin America, with the potential addition of more countries and regions.
Aside from being the future home of the longest-running weekly episodic television show of all time, Netflix will become the primary destination for all WWE shows and specials outside the United States, which includes Raw, SmackDown, NXT, as well as Premium Live Events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble.
Additionally, Netflix will stream WWE's documentaries, original series, and upcoming projects internationally from 2025 onwards.
However, the company's other primary show, Friday Night SmackDown, will continue to be broadcast on linear TV. SmackDown currently airs on Fox, and WWE has signed a new five-year deal worth $1.4 billion to move the show to the USA Network (which currently broadcasts RAW) starting in October 2024.
The WWE-Netflix deal carries significant implications for the streaming platform's future and the landscape of live sports broadcasting.
WWE has a history of pioneering industry standards, from closed-circuit and cable to national syndication, pay-per-view, home video, and the establishment of a stand-alone streaming platform.
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What Does WWE-Netflix Deal Mean For Live Sports Broadcasts?
1. Netflix is entering the sports livestream market.
Before the WWE deal, Netflix had not ventured into hosting live sports events, but the move suggests a response to competition pressures.
Amazon Prime and NBC's Peacock have found success in streaming NFL games. Peacock paid $110 million for exclusive rights to one playoff game, specifically the Wild Card Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Apple TV's first year under a significant 10-year worldwide deal for exclusive Major League Soccer broadcasts has proven to be a great deal. The platform experienced a surge in subscriptions, particularly following the arrival of Argentine legend Lionel Messi to Inter Miami in 2023.
2. UFC might be the next to go to Netflix.
With WWE and UFC now under unified ownership with TKO Group Holdings, the mixed martial arts promotion could be the next entity to transition to Netflix after the expiration of its broadcast rights with ESPN in 2025.
The UFC broadcast rights have significantly contributed to the growth of ESPN+, the premium streaming service associated with the sports network. ESPN also maintains control over the rights to pay-per-view broadcasts, serving as a substantial revenue driver for the network.
Netflix could be interested in snagging the next broadcast deal of the UFC out of ESPN's hands, given mixed martial arts' huge and growing reach, which has the potential to boost subscription and revenue numbers.
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