WWE International fans are in for a massive treat.
A few hours later, on 6th January, WWE is set to embark on a new journey. With its much-awaited Netflix premiere, the promotion will begin a brand new era. WWE is set to enter a platform with over 282 million worldwide subscribers.
In a recent interview with Sports Business Journal, WWE VP and line producer, Brian Fadem opened up about performing on such a global market and their hope to put forward a WrestleMania-level show.
“The global side is huge, we know we’re exposed to a way bigger market than we normally would be as a domestic product. We want to make this show the spectacle, the level that we feel like it should be on a new platform like Netflix. The vibe I get around WrestleMania week is very much the vibe I am getting today, and this past week.”
Discussing the Netflix commercial break system, Fadem revealed that the promotion is targeting a three-hour show debut tonight with 15 commercial breaks. Which shall later be reduced to add more content. However, later in another delightful update, Brian Fadem confirmed that international audiences will not have any commercial breaks.
“While you might go to commercials if you’re in Texas, if you’re in Italy you’re going to see us continue content. You’re going to see the continuation of a match. You’re going to see exclusive interviews with our talent. You might see an exclusive package that will only be viewed on that international level.”
Triple H Discusses Commercial Break Structure For WWE Raw On Netflix Premiere
In an interview on The Press Box, Triple H addressed the topic of commercials on Netflix and explained why it was important.
“Look, [laughs], my guess on their part would be money is part of this. They’re paying us a lot of money. They’re in the business of making money, so they’ve got to have ad times and they’ve fit to sell things, even though it’s a subscription product. There’s other factors that go into that for them. For us, to some degree, it’s a funny thing.
Sometimes, they tell us, for whatever reason, ‘Hey, you can have the entire first hour commercial-free.’ I know that nobody out there that watches the show, unless they do television, will understand this because they hear this and think, ‘That’s the most ridiculous thing ever.’ Commercial-free live television is incredibly difficult. People don’t understand that.
To be able to go from, this match ends, you gotta get them out of the arena, you gotta go backstage, you gotta go to this other stuff, you gotta be ready to go on every single thing, in real time, in that moment. If something crashes, if somebody gets injured, there’s no place to go. There’s no commercial to go to. There’s no, ‘Hey, we can go to this.’
You can only go to so many backstage segments. If they’re not ready to go, something happens and you gotta get out in the ring, if no one’s ready to go, ‘Alright, just run a package or something.’ It’s incredibly difficult to do. So having those breaks in there to some degree is helpful.”
In other news: A former WWE Champion is set to star alongside MJF in ‘Happy Gilmore 2’.