Smackdown for Netflix, the new home of WWE
JANUARY 24, 2024 12.37 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER

Netflix has announced a 10-year deal to become the home of hit wrestling show WWE Raw and other shows in the WWE portfolio.

The $5 billion agreement, which runs from January 2025, gives the streamer exclusive rights to Raw in the United States and internationally including Canada, Latin America and the UK where rights were most recently held by BT Sport/TNT Sports. In the United States, the rights holder for Raw is NBCUniversal, which paid $1.3 billion for he domestic market alone.

“We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria. “By combining our reach, recommendations, and fandom with WWE, we’ll be able to deliver more joy and value for their audiences and our members.”

According to Mark Shapiro, president and chief operating officer of WWE’s parent company TKO, the deal “fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, significantly expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.”