After months of anticipation, WWE Raw has a new home.
On Tuesday morning, WWE announced that it has reached a deal with Netflix to make the streaming giant the exclusive home of its flagship show beginning in 2025. While terms of the deal weren’t officially announced, CNBC reports that it is a 10-year deal valued at more than $5 billion.
According to a release, Raw will begin airing on Netflix in January 2025. WWE’s current deal with NBC Universal to air Raw on USA Network runs through October 2024. It’s unclear where Raw will air between the two deals.
WWE Raw is coming to Netflix!
Starting in January 2025, @Netflix will exclusively stream #WWERaw (in the US, Canada, UK, & Latin America) every single week, all year long! https://t.co/SOSACjfp7w pic.twitter.com/lTdSXMep9K
— WWE (@WWE) January 23, 2024
As a part of the deal, Netflix will become the exclusive home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Latin America, with other countries to be added over time. Additionally, Netflix will become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. as available, including Raw and WWE’s other weekly shows – SmackDown and NXT, as well as the company’s Premium Live Events.
“This deal is transformative,” Mark Shapiro, TKO President and COO, said in a release. “It marries the can’t-miss WWE product with Netflix’s extraordinary global reach and locks in significant and predictable economics for many years. Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.”
Added Netflix Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria: “We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix. By combining our reach, recommendations, and fandom with WWE, we’ll be able to deliver more joy and value for their audiences and our members. Raw is the best of sports entertainment, blending great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year and we’re thrilled to be in this long-term partnership with WWE.”
WWE’s rights deal with Netflix is notable on multiple fronts.
From WWE’s perspective, the deal takes its flagship show off of linear television for the first time since its inception in 1993. With its latest round of television rights deal now complete, WWE will have a presence on cable television (WWE SmackDown on USA Network), network television (WWE NXT on The CW) and now, streaming, by the start of next year. WWE’s Premium Live Events (previously pay-per-views) currently air on NBC’s Peacock streaming platform.
For Netflix, acquiring Raw marks its first major venture into live television rights. While the streaming giant has aired live events previously, Raw is a 52-week a year venture that will now make Netflix the exclusive home of television’s longest-running weekly episodic program.
Thus far, the deal appears to have been well received by Wall Street, with TKO Group Holdings stock up 20 percent pre-market as of 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday. Additionally on Tuesday, TKO announced that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been added to its board of directors.
