Earlier this month, international streaming heavyweight Netflix broadcast WWE Raw for the first time. The flagship weekly TV show by the professional wrestling promotion has, until now, strictly been the preserve of linear TV networks, with distribution on the Peacock streaming service and its in-house OTT platform WWE Network supplementing its primary TV exposure.
Now, though, the reported $5 billion rights deal, rumored to be as long as 10 years, has given the streamer a stranglehold over one of the US’ most coveted weekly sports attractions, and more crucially, one of its best consistent ratings draws.
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Although far removed from its zenith in 2000 where 7 million average audiences were commonplace, Monday Night Raw averaged 1.64 million on the national USA Network. For reference, this far outstrips the viewership of the likes of ice hockey’s National Hockey League regular season or the Major League Soccer Cup.
When utilizing coverage rating, which effectively adjusts for cable TV cord-cutting by only examining households with access to WWE on linear TV, the show has trended upwards consistently since mid-2021 when the COVID-19 restrictions that banned having a live audience in attendance hamstrung interest, reaching a 1.32%, 53-week moving average on December 30, 2024.
The year-high viewership Raw received on April 8, 2024 – 2.36 million viewers – equated to a 2% coverage rating, the highest the show has drawn since April 9, 2018.
That consistent domestic viewership growth has in its early stages extended with the Netflix deal, when the very first Raw episode on the streamer on January 6 drew 2.6 million households to watch in the US alone, more than any other Monday Night Raw broadcast in the past five years.
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By GlobalDataSince the COVID-19 pandemic, streaming platforms have pushed subscriber counts upward as consumers shift away from traditional media. In 2023, CNBC reported that broadcast and cable TV accounted for less than 50% of television usage. This trend underscores Netflix’s interest in expanding its rights portfolio as an effective sports streaming rights ‘arms race’ will see some of the industry’s biggest players view for the same eyeballs and purses.
Speaking on how WWE rights will shape Netflix’s future, GlobalData Sport lead analyst Conrad Wiacek explained why the continued strong viewership is important, saying: “With Netflix moving to an advertising model, live sports is the only way to guarantee an audience at a fixed time.
“By testing the [National Football League] games at Christmas, and now moving into a global partnership with WWE, it highlights that streaming platforms cannot exist on bingeable content alone if they want to move towards an advertising model.”
Netflix set a National Football League (NFL) streaming record when it aired the league’s two 2024 Christmas Day games, averaging 26.5 million viewers in the US alone, and over 30 million globally.
After question marks surfaced regarding Netflix’s ability to deliver major live sports events after its controversial Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing bout suffered video issues (it was still watched by over 60 million), the delivery of the NFL Christmas slate has proven not just to sports properties that the streamer can deliver, but also to potential advertisers that it will bring consistent eyes to the product.
Wiacek continues: “Long term, Netflix may look to secure other sporting rights, perhaps targeting a 'rest of the world' type deal for sports such as the NFL and [English Premier League] outside of their core domestic markets.
“WWE realized that young people were living on streaming platforms as opposed to traditional broadcast, and while those traditional broadcast rights will still be the most valuable for rights holders, Netflix presents a viable alternative when looking to streamline and simplify multi-territory deals.”
Netflix’s WWE rights are not solely domestic, they span the US, Europe, and Latin America, with more territories potentially to come. Outside of the US, Netflix also holds the rights to the WWE’s Friday show Smackdown, as well as developmental program NXT, and its complete slate of ‘premium live events’ (PLE).
The first of these will be the upcoming February 1 Royal Rumble, one of WWE's four biggest PLEs, and will be a real acid test for Netflix in terms of the long-term viability of the partnership.
Including US viewership, Raw’s Netflix debut drew 4.9 million viewers across all global markets that the deal covers, and could be a vital tool for Netflix to compete in the sports space with its rivals, as well as offering a glimpse at the platform’s future amid an ever-changing streaming space.
That the broadcast is performing well internationally, despite the adverse time differences for the European market in particular, bodes well for Netflix given the differences in viewing habits in different markets, a point expressed by James English, managing partner at the sports and entertainment marketing agency Fuse.
English said: “The expansion of Netflix’s live sports portfolio will change the way fans consume sport. The number of subscriptions required to view sports is growing, and while multiple broadcasters for the same sport has long been common in the US – the NFL is already shown across seven different broadcasters – in Europe, it’s traditionally a different story.
“People in Europe are accustomed to paying for fewer big subscriptions to watch all the sports they love, but Netflix is further challenging the status quo. Netflix will shift things further – because it has access to a vast amount of data. In a world where AI is accelerating personalized content for fans, Netflix is in a strong position to offer levels of personalization for fans that they’ve not previously experienced.”
This is already showing, with Netflix soon to step into the soccer world in the US courtesy of a bumper new deal to broadcast the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031.
Netflix has a history in sports, helping to spark the massive surge in sports documentaries over the last few years thanks to its “Drive to Survive” Formula 1 docu-series that became a global hit and spawned many imitators to varying degrees of success.
Drive to Survive built Netflix's credibility in the sports space, added English, who continued: “Brands now need to get their paperwork in order, to ensure their contractual rights are updated and reflective of the shift away from traditional broadcasters.
“It’s also never been more important to revisit media strategies to jump on this growing trend. For the wider market, many rightsholders will welcome the arrival of Netflix on the scene – as another bidder will mean more competition in the market."
After the NFL Christmas games, Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president for nonfiction series and sports, stated that the company will remain “open-minded and opportunistic” in expanding its live sports offerings.
With cord-cutting growing and the competitive array of streaming services loading up on sports content, Netflix’s WWE partnership, at least in its infancy, could show properties that the world's biggest streaming service, when it comes to entertainment too, has the clout to carve out a corner of the sports market with success.
