WWE has announced the new home for Monday Night Raw in a move that few would have seen coming.
The future of the flagship show has been a hot topic of discussion among wrestling fans with many suspecting that the sports entertainment titan may strike a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, the home of rival promotion AEW. Instead, WWE has agreed on a partnership with Netflix in a historic deal.
The agreement will see Raw move off mainstream TV for the first time ever and move to streaming. Additionally, fans outside of the United States will see SmackDown and NXT broadcast on Netflix along with Premium Live Events and exclusive documentaries. For fans in the UK, this will bring to an end the current relationship with TNT Sports in 2025. The future of the WWE Network is currently unknown.
As reported by CNBC, the agreement is said to last 10 years and is valued in excess of $5 billion.
The press release is as follows:
STAMFORD, Conn., January 23, 2024 – WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) today announced a long-term partnership that will bring WWE’s flagship weekly program – Raw – to the world’s leading entertainment service. This marks a major programming shift as Raw leaves linear television for the first time since its inception 31 years ago.
Beginning in January 2025, Netflix will be the exclusive new home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Latin America, among other territories, with additional countries and regions to be added over time. Likewise, as part of the agreement, Netflix will also become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. as available, inclusive of Raw and WWE’s other weekly shows – SmackDown and NXT – as well as the company’s Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. WWE’s award-winning documentaries, original series and forthcoming projects will also be available on Netflix internationally beginning in 2025.
“This deal is transformative,” said Mark Shapiro, TKO President and COO. “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.”
“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.”
“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.”
With 1,600 episodes to date, Raw is the most iconic show in sports entertainment. Since its debut in 1993, Raw has delivered action, compelling drama and unmatched athleticism – 52 weeks a year. Blending the best of scripted content with unpredictable live entertainment, the three-hour show has helped launch the careers of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Triple H, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair.
The show is currently the No. 1 show on USA Network, where it brings in 17.5 million unique viewers over the course of the year. One of television’s best performing shows in the 18-49 advertising demographic, Raw trends on X 52 weeks a year while each new episode is airing. On social media, WWE has more than one billion followers across its platforms.
More details have been provided regarding the agreement in an SEC filing from TKO Holdings. Although the agreement is 10 years, Netflix has the power to cancel the contract after 5 years or extend it to 20 years. The value of the agreement at $5 billion is also confirmed.
The news has also had an extremely positive impact on the market. As reported by Brandon Thurston, TKO’s share price jumped up 23% to $95 as soon as the market opened.
With the Raw deal with Netflix now finalised, this completes the media rights for all programming for the next 5 years as SmackDown will be available on the USA Network and NXT will be on the CW Network later in 2024.
With the current deal expiring in October 2024, some are curious as to what will happen to Raw in the 2 month period between deals. As reported by Variety, this is still to be determined.
WWE Raw Sees The End Of An Era In 2025
The flagship show has been frequently touted as the longest-running episodic program in history, with 1,600 episodes broadcast as of January 22nd 2024. Over the past 31 years, many of the biggest moments in company history have taken place on the flagship show and have seen massive ratings as a result.
Having previously been broadcast on Spike TV and the USA Network, this really will be a new era for WWE.
With WWE NXT set to be a part of the CW family soon, the President of the network has commented.
As the Netflix deal draws nearer, CM Punk gave his thoughts.