WWE enters its Netflix era

At 7 pm CT tonight, WWE Raw will make its Netflix debut.

It’ll be the first time the longest-running weekly episodic series on TV – debut: January 11, 1993 – will appear exclusively on streaming, following a 10-year, $5 billion deal signed with Netflix last January.

A new Attitude Era

Unfettered by network TV restrictions, where content doesn’t need to be cut to fit time constraints, Raw is now expected to have a longer runtime (three hours instead of two). Ads will also appear on the ring mat, which embattled former chairman Vince McMahon had long opposed.

Mo’ money, mo’ eyeballs: Raw’s switch to Netflix, with its 280+ million global subscribers (~85 million in the US), is worth more money to the WWE (~2x its previous deal). It’s also expected to yield higher viewership numbers, similar to how Drive to Survive boosted interest in F1.

• In addition to Raw in the US, the streamer will carry all WWE shows overseas (including Smackdown), as well as premium live events like WrestleMania.

😋 Zoom out: Since signing the WWE deal, Netflix has been gobbling up live-event broadcast rights like a sports-focused Pac-Man. The streamer most recently secured the exclusive US media rights to the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cups.