$5 billion for 10 years: WWE-Netflix deal explained
Netflix will be paying WWE over $5 billion for a 10-year agreement after it secured the media rights for Raw starting from January 2025.
As part of the deal, Netflix can decide to terminate the deal after five years and it also has the option to extend it for an additional 10 years according to a filing by TKO.
But this deal goes beyond Monday Night Raw. This new deal will see Netflix become the home of Raw in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Latin America from January 2025 with more countries to be added over time.
Also, Smackdown and NXT will be moving to Netflix to all viewers outside the United States and where there’s no television deal in place.
Plus, all WWE’s premium live events, including WrestleMania, WWE documentaries, original series, and future projects will also be moving to Netflix internationally beginning in 2025, suggesting that the WWE Network will probably cease to exist. The rights to these shows will remain as part of Peacock in the United States until that expires in 2026.
What’s interesting is that in the press release, the name of the show is referred to just as WWE Raw and nowhere it says Monday Night, which might mean that the show will be moving nights once it transitions to Netflix.
Netflix has over 77 million subscribers in the United States and 247 million subscribers worldwide.
The story received coverage on major news outlets this morning.
Colin Vassallo has been editor of Wrestling-Online since 1996
Wonder if WWE can get out of the deal if viewer numbers fall.
Don’t think too many people are going to pay NF prices to watch Raw.
I know i wont.
IF my NF prices go up because of WWeeee , I’ll find alternative means to watch nf content.
Will on-demand access to Raw be taken off Peacock? I would imagine so, but if not, why would people pay Netflix prices when Peacock is available?
This is a huge blow to the USA Network, which saw its numbers overall drop when WWE made the ill-fated move to the now defunct Spike TV. Netflix has seen it’s share of struggles as well, and this could be a boon for them.