9 months ago
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It's been a whirlwind of a few days for WWE, with the company announcing earlier this week that "WWE Raw" would be moving to Netflix next year, followed by the news that a lawsuit had been filed accusing WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and former executive John Lauriniatis of sex trafficking and rape. As the working week comes to a close and the dust starts to settle, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter offered his assessment of the WWE-Netflix agreement.
Meltzer believes that the move from traditional cable to Netflix will get more young people to pay attention to "Raw." However, the drawback there is that older viewership may suffer. The company has already been trending in this direction over the last year, and they've seen major financial gains because of it. Based on the way cable viewership is trending, Meltzer feels that "Raw" moving to Netflix will "strengthen [its] reach" in the United States and increase the show's viewership around the world.
Additionally, with the WWE Network shutting down at the end of the year and all future PLEs being broadcast on Netflix internationally, Meltzer anticipates a strong increase in viewership of those events globally.
It's difficult to assess the exact financial gains WWE will see from the Netflix deal, because the sum not only includes American TV broadcast rights but global rights. However, Meltzer feels that, when taking exposure into account, WWE likely made the best deal possible for their long-term success.
The current contract, keeping "Raw" on the USA Network, lasts until October of this year. With the Netflix deal not taking effect until January 2025, that means WWE still needs to find a place to broadcast "Raw" from the beginning of October through the end of 2024.
