“Welcome to the Netflix era,” the World Wrestling Entertainment Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, also known as Triple H, said during the Jan. 6 episode of “Raw.”
On Jan. 6, the first episode of “Raw,” the weekly WWE show, premiered on Netflix. These matches have previously been streamed on Comcast’s USA Network for three decades.
“When you look at Netflix and its global reach and the power of its brand, it was time that our brand met up with theirs,” said Nick Khan, the WWE President.
Khan’s statement was proven correct with the premiere of the most recent season of “Raw,” which earned Netflix 4.9 million views for the week globally. As if it could not get better, viewership increased to 5.9 million views in the week of the second episode.
On Jan. 23, 2024, Netflix announced it signed a $5 billion 10-year deal with WWE to make it the new home of the entertainment franchise. The live events would be included in every Netflix subscription, with viewers only needing to log into their accounts. The episodes are available for streaming immediately after they are completed.
Older episodes are also available on Netflix, but only in the U.K. and only accessible with a purchase per view. Netflix has said it willaddmore archival content throughout 2025.
Triple H confirmed this deal with Netflix will begin a flexible runtime for the show. This likely correlates to the second episode including the inaugural women’s Intercontinental Championship match.
On live television, the shows had to fit into a pre-scheduled runtime. On Netflix, the show has the option to run shorter or longer than the two hours it had originally planned for.
The loyalty of viewers is what drew Netflix to WWE. As the longest-running weekly episodic series on television, “Raw” has millions of consistent viewers. Now, all of these viewers have to tune into Netflix in order to watch the events every week.
Triple H stated Netflix understands how to view data analytics, increasing its ability to understand its audience.
"The numbers are there; Netflix is a numbers company and I believe they will run with that and the sky is the limit,” Levesque said.
Some viewers stated they had trouble viewing the Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul fight because of buffering issues. This made Netflix concerned about hosting other live events, but the company said it has high hopes for the future.
Throughout 2025, Netflix will continue to stream WWE Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania and SummerSlam, and will also show comedy events and award shows. In years to come, the streaming service plans to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031.
Netflix is very clear about its excitement about showing live television. The company lost a lot of its viewers when other streaming services became popular. With specific live television events, it can divert viewers to its platform.
Live television is not a new concept, so the resources for success are widely available to them. As media and streaming continue to grow, it is up to these companies to determine what viewers get to see and how technology continues to advance.
