Last week, we learned that the Endeavor-owned TKO Group Holdings/WWE has signed a 10-year deal with Netflix to bring RAW to the streaming platform starting in January 2025.
The streamer will be home to only RAW in the U.S., but globally, it's essentially going to serve as the new WWE Network!
The deal has been valued at upwards of $5 billion and Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria recently addressed (via Deadline) the horrific lawsuit which has laid accusations of rape and people trafficking at the feet of former WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon.
"Well, Vince McMahon, he’s gone," she stated, adding, "He’s not there. He’s gone."
Netflix's Vice President of Nonfiction Brandon Riegg also opened up on what WWE brings to the platform. "It’s a great entertainment product so having something that we can have on weekly 52 weeks a year," he explained. "It has a very passionate, dedicated fanbase and I think many of those we have on Netflix as members already."
"The beauty, to me, is they’re going to be able to tap into a much larger audience. So introducing it to a new set of fans as well as servicing existing fans that were either already Netflix subscribers or will come over. Either way is a win. The truth is we don’t know how much bigger it can get. I think we’re all really bullish on it."
Bajaria added that WWE content has been "very under-distributed outside the US," noting that, "I think there’s really great opportunity to still grow it outside the US."
As for how Netflix has justified the $5 billion spent on WWE - the platform has a $17 billion a year content budget - Bajaria put the figure into perspective by explaining, "It’s three hours, weekly, 52 weeks live programming a year so if you look at what percentage of the budget that is, it’s actually really very small. So you can think of it as a couple movies and a series or a couple of series and a movie."
"This deal is transformative," said Mark Shapiro, TKO President and COO, when the news broke of RAW's move to Netflix. "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."
How do you feel about WWE's new streaming home?