Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events

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Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events​

  • Company to be exclusive home for show in US, other territories
  • Streaming service to air three hours of live wrestling weekly

WWE Wrestlemania Raw in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 27, 2023.

WWE Wrestlemania Raw in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 27, 2023.
Photographer: Alejandro Salazar/PX Images/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images


By Lucas Shaw

January 23, 2024 at 7:30 AM EST
Updated on
January 23, 2024 at 8:39 AM EST


Netflix Inc. has acquired the exclusive rights to Raw as well as other programming from World Wrestling Entertainment, marking the streaming service’s first big move into live events.

Raw will air on Netflix in the US, Canada, Latin America and other international markets beginning in January 2025, after the expiration of the WWE’s domestic deal with Comcast Corp. The company will also become the exclusive home outside the US for all WWE shows and specials, including Smackdown and NXT, as well as pay-per-view live events like Wrestlemania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. The pay-per-view events will be included at no additional cost for Netflix customers.

After attracting more than 200 million customers by offering films and TV shows on-demand, Netflix has now committed to offering three hours of live wrestling a week starting next year. The company hopes the deal will bring in millions of loyal WWE viewers and provide a boost for its fledgling advertising-supported plan. Netflix has been dabbling in live events for the last year, airing a live comedy special, as well as a golf match, but this is the first long-term rights deal.

The WWE is the latest major live event to shift from cable TV to streaming. Ultimate Fighting Championship, which like WWE is owned by TKO Group Holdings Inc., offers many of its matches on ESPN+, while the National Football League sold Amazon.com Inc. the rights to Thursday Night Football. A playoff game on Comcast’s Peacock just delivered the largest streaming audience for any professional sports event in the US.

While the WWE isn’t exactly a sport — most of the storylines are scripted — it draws a consistent live audience akin to a sporting event. Raw is the most-watched of the WWE’s programs, drawing about 1.5 million viewers per show. It debuted in 1993 and has been the training ground for future movie stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena.

“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,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a statement. The company has also licensed the rights to WWE’s documentaries and original series.

Comcast paid about $265 million a year for the rights to Raw, but the owner of NBCUniversal last year acquired the rights to Smackdown, considered the second-best package, for about $287 million a year. Shares in TKO, the owner of WWE, sank on the news as investors had been hoping the package would score a bigger payday. They also feared WWE would struggle to find a lucrative new home for Raw. Investors didn’t account for Netflix’s newfound interest in live entertainment, however.

TKO has now secured long-term deals for all of its biggest properties, and will negotiate its next deal for the UFC in 2025.

“Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix,” Mark Shapiro, TKO’s president, said in a statement.


thestreamable.com

Breaking: Netflix Secures WWE 'Monday Night Raw' Rights in Blockbuster 10-Year, $5 Billion Deal

“Raw” will become the streaming giant’s first regular live broadcast and first live sports rights.
thestreamable.com thestreamable.com




www.hollywoodreporter.com

Netflix Nabs WWE ‘Raw’ Rights in Major $5B Deal

Beginning in 2025, the streaming giant will also become the international home for the WWE's full slate of live events, including 'Wrestlemania' and 'Smackdown.'
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com




slashdot.org

Netflix Buys Rights To WWE's 'Raw,' Its First Big Live Event - Slashdot

Netflix has acquired the exclusive rights to Raw as well as other programming from World Wrestling Entertainment, marking the streaming service's first big move into live events. From a report: Raw will air on Netflix in the US, Canada, Latin America and other international markets beginning in...
slashdot.org

 
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variety.com

Netflix, WWE Strike Deal to Move ‘Monday Night Raw’ to Streamer Beginning in 2025 for $500 Million per Year

'Monday Night Raw' is headed to Netflix in 2025.
variety.com variety.com

Netflix, WWE Strike Deal to Move ‘Monday Night Raw’ to Streamer Beginning in 2025 for $500 Million per Year​

By Joe Otterson


WWE Monday Night Raw

WWE

UPDATED: “ Monday Night Raw” is headed to Netflix.

In a major shakeup, WWE has struck a deal with Netflix that will see its flagship weekly live pro wrestling show begin airing exclusively on the streaming giant beginning in January 2025. That will mark the first time in its three-decade history that “Raw” has not aired new episodes on a linear television network.

The deal is valued at $500 million per year for 10 years. Netflix has the option to opt out after the initial five years and to extend for an additional 10 years. By comparison, sources also say WWE’s current five-year deal for “Raw” with NBCUniversal is worth approximately $250 million-$260 million per year.

“We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix,” said Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria. “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 current deal with NBCUniversal has “Raw” airing on USA Network until October 2024. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, exactly where “Raw” will air between the end of that deal and the beginning of the Netflix deal is still being determined.

Under the deal, Netflix will become the exclusive home of “Raw” in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Latin America and other territories once the deal begins, with more countries and regions to be added over time. Netflix will also become the television home for all WWE shows outside the U.S. That includes fellow weekly shows “SmackDown” and “NXT” as well as annual live events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble, as well as documentaries, original series and additional projects.

“In its relatively short history, Netflix has engineered a phenomenal track record for storytelling,” said Nick Khan, WWE president. “We believe Netflix, as one of the world’s leading entertainment brands, is the ideal long-term home for Raw’s live, loyal, and ever-growing fan base.” 

“This deal is transformative,” added Mark Shapiro, president and COO of WWE parent company TKO. “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.”

The deal is the final step in WWE’s latest round of TV rights deals. It was previously announced that rights to “SmackDown” had been sold to NBCUniversal and USA Network in a five-year, $1.4 billion deal. Not long after, it was announced that NXT would be moving from USA Network to The CW. A source close to the deal pegged the value to WWE at about $20 million-$25 million a year, also for five years.

Acquiring rights to “Raw” solidifies Netflix’s push into live programming, with the streamer having just tested the waters with livestreaming of late. In March 2023, Netflix debuted its first-ever live event with the comedy special “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.” They followed up with a live “Love Is Blind” reunion special in April. They have aired multiple live events since, most recently the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.

But with “Raw,” Netflix will have a live program that runs weekly year-round. Such a move is a necessity for the trailblazer of the streaming revolution, with multiple competitors already offering regular live sports programs to their subscribers. Amazon, for example, locked up the exclusive rights to the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” for 10 years beginning with the 2023 season. Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service and current home to WWE library content and live events in the U.S., recently racked up 23 million viewers when it aired the NFL playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins.

Shapiro said the deal was months in the making. He credited Bajaria with having the vision to see what WWE could bring to Netflix’s global platform. The long-term licensing agreement was attractive to both buyer and seller for strategic reasons, and it was also a complex transaction worked out in secret. “We both can rarely remember a time when a deal was truly a win-win for both sides – a universally attractive platform means a universally attractive property,” Shapiro said. “Both have significant and loyal followings and the price and the many parts of the deal are right for both parties.”
 
Cattle Mutilation

Cattle Mutilation

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Wolfpac said:
Yeah I thought there would be a larger discussion too, but I have the OP of the thread you linked on ignore, so no wonder I missed it. :mjlol:
Click to expand...
Same. I didn't see the news until maybe an hour or two after it broke, came on here and saw nothing. Assumed it was one of the trolls I had on ignore that made the thread.
 
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