Netflix goes live to pin down $5bn wrestling deal with WWE
NETFLIX has signed a $5bn (£3.9bn) deal to stream WWE’S flagship wrestling show in the streaming giant’s biggest push into live events to date.
WWE’S weekly Raw programme will move to Netflix’s streaming service from January 2025.
It came as the success of the final series of The Crown and a crackdown on password sharing drove Netflix to its best ever fourth quarter for new subscribers. The company last night reported an additional 13m subscribers in the final three months of the year, taking its total to more than 260m and marking the best quarter since the early Covid lockdowns.
Revenue rose to $8.8bn, while net profit stood at $938m. Shares in Netflix rose as much as 7.7pc in after-hours trading in New York.
The deal with WWE marks the streaming service’s first serious foray into live events as it competes with rivals such as Amazon and Disney.
It will be the first time that Raw will not be broadcast live on a traditional TV channel in the US. Nbcuniversal currently holds the rights. The programme airs on USA Network and TNT Sports in the UK. Raw will air each week on Netflix in the UK, US, Canada and Latin
America, with additional countries to be added. Netflix will also host other WWE shows and specials outside the US, including Smackdown and Royal
Rumble, and other programmes. Mark Shapiro, president and chief operating officer of TKO, which owns WWE, called the deal “transformative”.
He added: “Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.”
Netflix is believed to have paid $5bn for the rights over 10 years. Netflix has enjoyed success with sport-focused documentary series such as Formula 1:
Drive to Survive and tennis series Break Point. However, executives have previously played down the company’s interest in live events.
Yet last year Netflix held its first ever live sports broadcast with the Netflix Cup, a golf tournament between PGA Tour professionals and Formula One racing drivers. In March, it will stream a live tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alvarez, while it has also experimented with a live stand-up comedy show by Chris Rock.
The streaming giant has raised subscription prices, as well as introducing an advertising-funded tier and a crackdown on password-sharing.