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The sports and entertainment industry’s inevitable migration to streaming platforms took a big leap forward Tuesday when WWE announced that it had entered a deal with Netflix that would grant it exclusive rights to air “Monday Night Raw,” beginning in January of 2025.
The deal will also include every other WWE television offering in international markets, including “Smackdown,” “NXT,” premium live events, and WWE’s documentaries and original content.
What did all of this cost Netflix? A smooth $5 billion over the course of 10 years.
While on the surface it may feel like a major shift for the television industry, in reality, it is just the latest signal that streaming platforms are slowly knocking down the last pillar that prevents them from completely taking over the entertainment marketplace: live events.
We’ve already seen steps in this direction. WWE has been in business with Peacock for the rights to air its premium live events since 2021. However, that was just for PLEs (and WWE’s entire video library) and only for the U.S. WWE is taking this a step further by offering its weekly television product to streaming.
Speaking of Peacock, it just paid the NFL $110 million for the exclusive rights to air one playoff game. Despite the decision drawing the ire of numerous fans and even players, the game garnered 23 million viewers. According to NBC, it was the most-streamed live event in U.S. history. That sounds like money well spent to me.
Let’s not forget that the NFL is already in a relationship with Amazon to air the league’s “Thursday Night Football” games, a deal that has so much influence that the NFL opened up the option to flex games into the Thursday time slot. The same goes for Monday night games, too, which actually happened during this past regular season.
The industry has dipped a little more than a toe in this pool already. WWE’s foray with Netflix is merely the latest step. By the way, did you know Hulu has live sports?
This may be hard to believe for wrestling fans, but WWE has been a bit of a leader in this space. Remember, WWE launched its own streaming platform, WWE Network, way back in 2014.
That was long before Hulu had live sports and before Amazon began including live sports as part of its Prime subscription. Ten years later, WWE has opened the door even further for the rest of the industry to follow.
So what does this all mean?
Well, if you’re a Netflix subscriber, which accounts for 247 million people, then you’re ecstatic. Because now you don’t need a cable subscription to watch WWE’s flagship program. The one concern I would have is Netflix’s live streaming track record, which is not very extensive.
To date, Netflix has only hosted a handful to varying degrees of results. Chris Rock’s “Selective Outrage” special broke streaming records. However, that was followed up by Love is Blind’s live reunion, which was an objective disaster. If there are similar issues with an episode of Raw, the outrage wrestling fans will express will not be so selective.
If you do not have a Netflix subscription, unfortunately, you’re out of luck. By retaining exclusivity, the streaming platforms are all but forcing non-streamers to finally get on board. That may sound easy for those that are already experienced with streaming, but there are still some out there that either aren’t as familiar with the technology or simply do not possess the means to become acquainted.
It is a decision rooted in greed rather than accessibility, but it is also the way the leaves are blowing.
What does it mean for WWE and its visibility? The fact that Netflix has more 247 million subscribers should help. NFL fans found a way to watch a playoff game on Peacock. Wrestling fans, an extremely dedicated lot in their own right, will also find a way.
I’d also imagine since Netflix is making such a massive investment in the property that it will promote WWE to the hilt, which will put the promotion in front of people that don’t usually follow its product.
What does it mean for cable providers? This is obviously bad news, as they have been scrambling to maintain their hold on the television industry for a good decade at this point. The more streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu encroach on their territory by paying for exclusivity, the more the cable providers will ultimately suffer.
At the end of the day, the rich get richer, and they will continue to get rich regardless of whether it is what is best for the fans or not.
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