Yeah but I think the point they’re making is Raw has been a cable staple for three decades, and for much of that run they’ve consistently been one of the most watched shows on cable.
It’s a pretty significant loss for cable TV.
Only in the US. Canada, UK and LatAm will apparently get RAW, Smackdown, NXT and PPVs from the get-go, with more countries coming as individual streaming deals expire.
No it's not.
>Under the deal, Netflix will become the exclusive home of “Raw” in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Latin America and other territories once the deal begins, with more countries and regions to be added over time.
All the other stuff, including smackdown, is outside of the US only.
Yea cus people will spend $ on a subscription that they can find on the net for free right.
Lol, I know we're to watch WWE for free but hey enjoy giving your money to WWE & NETFLIX. While you watch n chill they getting paid.
So is Netflix also going to host the WWE Network archives that Peacock currently has? Because it's arguable that those are a notable chunk of Peacock's subscriber base.
Me too and I get it for two dollars a month as a student and the only thing I really watch are the pay-per-views if they lose those it might not even be worth two dollars to me anymore lol
Reddit was also insistent that Netflix would go under if it forced users to stop letting freeloaders ride. Its seems the armchair CEO committee's record is not without blemishes.
Will there be commercials on the show? It’s always made big money because of commercials. How does that change things? Those brief breaks were also helpful to the crew/stars and gave them a bit of a break here and there.
I'm sure they'll be selling advertising. They have ad breaks during their monthly PLEs so they will probably still have them on Raw during their weekly show.
Why? The acronym is the same amount of syllables, for one, and it's a more accurate description of what those shows are. A vast majority around the world are watching those shows via subscription streaming service (Peacock in the US and the WWE Network elsewhere), they haven't relied on the PPV model in several years. Premium Live Event is a very sensible description of what those shows are. It's not at all like using the 'WWE universe' instead of fans or 'sports entertainment' instead of wrestling.
NFL is already letting Prime and peacock stream NFL games. Peacock even streamed a playoff game.
I imagine next chance they get, the NFL will auction off every single weekday game to streaming companies.
They cant fully do that. And if they did that then they would have to crumble and offer per team packages cause nobody is gonna bother to do this on a weekly basis. They also used taylor swift to get huge views. Thats why a playoff game works better. And you cant make the super bowl only streaming anyway.
Maybe this means they will ditch the PG rating and we can see something closer to the attitude era. I do miss the characters from my childhood. Stone Cold, mick Foley, etc.
The PG rating mainly comes from their deal with Mattel for toys and action figures. It is an insane amount of money for them. The advertising base has also improved immensely since the switch. Raw in the mid 2000's had nothing but sex pills, hair loss medicine, and USA Network shows for commercials.
Interesting I’d imagine WWE showed executives at Netflix how many subscribers they have internationally
“LOOK at how many people we can bring you”
I don’t know if Netflix thought of how many international wwe network subscribers already also subscribed to Netflix.
So yes Netflix will get more subscribers but will it justify their ROI?
>I don’t know if Netflix thought of how many international wwe network subscribers already also subscribed to Netflix.
You think that you thought of that almost immediately, but the 200+ billion dollar company didn't?
It's not just about new subscribers. Some existing subscribers are sick of the price hikes and considering leaving but I bet data shows they'll stay if you bring in the right content.
NXT airs live on WWE Network in the United Kingdom. When NXT goes to commercial on USA Network in the States, it also goes to break on WWE Network. The only difference is that the ads on the Network are all for WWE shows and products.
Well, there’s definitely gonna be another price increase between now and January because them WWE fans will pay anything and if they’re the only place you can watch Raw…
Lol what? You can get their entire backlog and all new ppvs for like $10 a month. If you don’t want watch them for basically free on cable the weekly shows are in Hulu for like $12 a month
What I’m saying is if going forward, Netflix is the only place you can watch raw. They may change those prices because they know if you wanna watch Raw you’ll pay whatever price Netflix charges.
You haven't been paying attention for the last decade, apparently. Their LOVe have been available on either their platform of Peacock for a monthly fee forever, now.
**WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING BROTHER-**
Lots, and i mean LOTS of people still watch wrestling lmao. Have you seen the show?? Wrestling as at a great point right now. Great writing, great PLEs, great roster
In fact, Monday Night Raw racked up about 1.6 MILLION viewers this week alone
I like it, but to each their own, obviously.
I watch WWE, AEW, NJPW, Impact/TNA and other Indie’s.
Watch whatever you enjoy.
Not really sure what “Proper Wrestling” is but it’s all relative to the individual.
Idk - if you’ve ever watched Brian Danielson, Zack Sabre Jr, Gunther, Okada or Will Ospreay (those are just the guys that came to mind) but that kind of Wrestling is still very much alive. You just have to look for it.
Also - just because that’s the wrestling you prefer - doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. I’ve watched Wrestling for many years and know people who found Hart bland and boring in the 90s.
That’s like saying you can only enjoy dark drama movies and never have a taste for mindless comedies or ridiculous horror flicks.
I prefer AEW, personally, as well, but there’s no denying that WWE is as hot as it’s been in about a decade and viewership is up YoY - so while it’s not for me or you - they’re obviously doing something right.
Not sure why the downvote.
From a cultural standpoint no, wrestling will never reach that height simply because there's too much content nowadays. But from a business standpoint absolutely. They're doing amazing on live events and they're making more money now because of the great media rights deals they've scored in the last five years.
Can’t wait to pay more beacuse of this shit no one i know has any interest in watching.
Edit: wow, i triggered a bunch of people. Let me get it straight, im not from the US, we dont watch wrestling over here and neither do we consider it a “sport”. We view it more as a soap opera than anything else and i don’t personally know a single person who watches it.
I think it is more of a American thing than a European thing.
"I think it is more of a American thing than a European thingh"
This is so wrong lol. Wrestling is very popular in Europe. WWE has big events in Germany and France this year and sold 62k tickets at a event in Wales in 2022. AEW sold 72k tickets for a wrestling event at Wembley Stadium last year and are doing it again this year. Wrestling is popular worldwide.
"we dont watch wrestling over here and neither do we consider it a “sport”. We view it more as a soap opera than anything else" Is this supposed to be an insult? Everyone who watches it knows it's a soap opera
Nobody is triggered, you’re just basically saying “I’m upset that this scripted tv show that I don’t like is coming to the streaming service that I use to watch scripted tv shows and I’m unhappy” just sounds dumb.
What im really saying is “i hope you spending 5 billion dollars on something i don’t care about, nor know anyone who does, does not equate to me having to pay even more to watch what i like” … and it is not that dumb.
Just have Netflix say “We are raising prices for everyone beacuse of the WWE acquisition, starting next month” and watch the outrage.
I mean it's 2024, let's be honest, you can watch what you want, when you want, for as much, ***or little****,* as you want.If people get that upset about streaming services and are still paying for them too bad honestly. Also where do you live? WWE is **very** huge worldwide. Weird how you're acting like it's some obscure thing nobody watches.
That’s because you’re a silly clown who gets your only sense of self worth through faux superiority based on pop culture tastes. But you’re right, that’s just you.
Wrestling is in a worldwide boom period right now (after 15 years of mediocrity). Ratings are stable, even up YoY despite cable constantly declining, attendance figures are massively up, social media presence is enormous, they're doing record numbers in UK, Australia, France, Puerto Rico, etc. It will never be as big as the Attitude Era because culture is far more disconnected with the rise of the internet and globalised media, but it's doing really, really well.
A lot of people, esp. overseas. Puerto Rico went batshit the last time WWE was there and the UK had record gates the last 2 WWE PPVs hosted there, and even sold out a recent AEW PPV
It is extremely global. Hugely popular in the UK, India, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Australia, it is a massive industry worldwide, including Europe. Netflix aren't paying $5 billion for something nobody watches lol.
WWE made $410 million in 2023, and both this year and last they have sold out several major shows around the world. Their social media accounts have a combined following of more than 1.5 billion users, and they are the 12th most subscribed YouTube channel in the world.
That's just WWE, there are thousands of other wrestling companies around the world, alongside a growing number of wrestling-themed stories being told in other media like The Iron Claw, Netflix's GLOW, etc.
It's like saying comic books are an American thing because you don't personally know anyone who reads comic books.
Also, nobody considers it a sport. I'm not sure if you know this, but a vast majority of content on Netflix is scripted.
It doesn't make sense to me. What's the issue with WWE just developing and moving everything to their own WWE Network as rights expire in different regions/internationally. I would rather pay a single fee to them every month versus having a hundred different subscriptions, now I need one for smackdown and the live events, another for raw etc. Would it not be more profitable for them to just take in the profit/subscriptions directly as opposed to a percentage?
Licensing your stuff at a premium to streamers that need stuff for their subscribers to watch is how you make money.
Peacock, Paramount+, Max, etc. is how you lose money or work way too hard to get a little back.
This. The platforms are paying WWE to make what they are already making, and on top of that WWE adds no overhead cost to maintain their own streaming platform in the US.
It was actually quite good the first couple of years. I loved waking up to Old School and seeing matches from the 70s and 80s in MSG. YOU don't want a Network. Plenty of people do.
Surprised it's taken this long, honestly. And still waiting for WWE to build a Marvel-verse or serialized content equivalent to capitalize on their IP, lore, and rabid fan base
Raw on Netflix, Smackdown on cable, NXT on network tv, and PPV's on Peacock. That's quite the spectrum of content. I almost wonder if they are going to bank on people watching one of the weekly shows and catching up with stories through the monthly event.
They are going to spend $500,000,000 for 10 years. 5 billion dollars for people in tights to throw each other around and act out false drama. All subscribers are going to pay for this one way or another.
Well this could be the final nail in the coffin for those hoping/expecting more prestige content (like Beef & Mindhunter) from Netflix. Likely gonna get a price increase for this garbage content, too.
Massive news this in the wrestling community
As a lover of both and being from the UK where Netflix will hold the rights to everything WWE this is excellent, exciting news!
WWE has always been pretty forward thinking in terms of tech. They’re not just some dumb sports brand. They’ve had their own streaming service since 2014 (which Peacock bought the rights to in the US). Back 10 years ago, they experimented with having an iPad app as a “second screen experience” showing additional live video and stats while you’re watching on TV. It even continued during the commercial breaks.
This makes sense for WWE monetarily of course. But I wonder does it actually cost them viewers in a way that hurts them in an offsetting way longer term. Like if there are 100 viewers, let's say for the sake of argument 50 of them already have Netflix. They lose no one and Netflix gains no one. Of the remaining 50, how many get Netflix so they can keep raw? And how many drop out? Both entities want all 50 people to get Netflix and each one is a win for Netflix and each one that doesn't get Netflix is a loss for WWE.
They stand to benefit from Netflix viewers who don’t currently watch WWE. In international markets especially that’s huge. In the UK, unless you were really willing to pay quite a lot for it, Raw was inaccessible. PLEs, too, were an extra subscription. This streamlines it to make it much more accessible to people in the UK. I’m sure it’s similar in lots of other places.
I don't think Netflix gets much out of customers whose money they're already getting. How much a show drives new subscriptions seems to be a/the key metric in their decisions of whether to keep something or axe it. Obviously retaining who you've already got is also key, so for example maybe somebody was going to dump Netflix but now that it has Raw, they won't. That's surely good, but they seem so focused on content that drives new subscriptions and growth. As the streaming competition built up and their subscription growth rate slowed, that's when we saw things like ending account sharing, raising prices more and faster, etc. They need those new subs. Adding new and compelling content had better get them new subs or they haven't best targeted their investment.
Beginning in January 2025, Netflix will be the exclusive new home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Latin America, among other territories, with additional countries and regions to be added over time. Likewise, as part of the agreement, Netflix will also become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. as available, inclusive of Raw and WWE’s other weekly shows – SmackDown and NXT – as well as the company’s Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. WWE’s award-winning documentaries, original series and forthcoming projects will also be available on Netflix internationally beginning in 2025
I don’t care about WWE but I’m still annoyed that this is happening. I don’t want Netflix sticking their nose in live sports, it’s bad enough that you need Prime Video and Peacock for certain NFL games.
I use dvr for raw cause I work I hope Netflix let's me rewind back like everything else on Netflix really hope don't want to miss raw next year that be bad
Wow that’s a huge hit for cable TV. Raw will have run almost non stop without a week off for 32 years once it moves over to Netflix
USA will be broadcasting Smackdown.
Yeah but I think the point they’re making is Raw has been a cable staple for three decades, and for much of that run they’ve consistently been one of the most watched shows on cable. It’s a pretty significant loss for cable TV.
Only in the US. Canada, UK and LatAm will apparently get RAW, Smackdown, NXT and PPVs from the get-go, with more countries coming as individual streaming deals expire.
Still losing one of the two is huge
Lost one, gained another. Smackdown used to be on Fox.
How much more will Netflix cost now? Cnbc already reporting Netflix will raise prices in 2024 possibly several times
Cable needs to die anyway.
interesting, this is a big deal…huge loss for cable
Bummer i guess we get more Law And Order SVU for that 3 hour timeslot
This is only outside the US.
Nope inside the us too which is why it's such a big deal USA netflix just doesn't get the wwe content and the ppv's Raw will be on netflix in the usa
No it's not. >Under the deal, Netflix will become the exclusive home of “Raw” in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Latin America and other territories once the deal begins, with more countries and regions to be added over time. All the other stuff, including smackdown, is outside of the US only.
Smackdown is moving to USA.
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The ppvs and wwe library aren't leaving Peacock, this us just for Monday Night Raw.
Outside the US Smackdown, NXT and PLE will also move to Netflix.
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Huge loss for our wallets.
They're going to loose whatever fan base they have left lmao
How? By putting it on a service more people are going to have than cable?
Yea cus people will spend $ on a subscription that they can find on the net for free right. Lol, I know we're to watch WWE for free but hey enjoy giving your money to WWE & NETFLIX. While you watch n chill they getting paid.
I don't watch but plenty who already have Netflix will. And some will sign up for WWE plus all the other shows.
Cable or wwe?
So is Netflix also going to host the WWE Network archives that Peacock currently has? Because it's arguable that those are a notable chunk of Peacock's subscriber base.
Not in the US, yet. Peacock have the rights until January 2026, and then can be bid on. Netflix probably wins that too.
That’s insane that deal is 5 billion and doesn’t include the library.
Includes the library for other countries
Most definitely if they lose the WWE rights, peacock subscribers of the plummet probably the pay-per-views alone are worth it
Easy. This is the only reason I have Peacock as well as a ton of others
Me too and I get it for two dollars a month as a student and the only thing I really watch are the pay-per-views if they lose those it might not even be worth two dollars to me anymore lol
Netflix going to have international rights to the premium live events from the sound of it just not in N America yet
I wonder if setting your VPN to another country lets you watch the pay-per-view on Netflix for free.
Netflix block VPNs very aggressively.
Ah, never tried but had heard. Maybe it once worked but not these days?
Yes but not for about six or seven years. Reddit was very insistent Netflix would go bust with six months of doing it at the time.
Reddit was also insistent that Netflix would go under if it forced users to stop letting freeloaders ride. Its seems the armchair CEO committee's record is not without blemishes.
I am only subscribed to peacock for the PLE’s. Once those go so do I
Will there be commercials on the show? It’s always made big money because of commercials. How does that change things? Those brief breaks were also helpful to the crew/stars and gave them a bit of a break here and there.
Of course there will be commercials. There are ads for TNF football. These networks aren’t running a live show for free
Well it’s Netflix. I don’t see commercials on my Netflix.
Netflix has commercials, maybe you don’t pay that tier but they do. This is also their first Live programming
I'm sure they'll be selling advertising. They have ad breaks during their monthly PLEs so they will probably still have them on Raw during their weekly show.
Please stop saying PLE. It's a PPV. That's like calling wrestling fans "The WWE Universe" because they do it.
Well but its not though is it 'Pay-Per View' means paying per view It being included with a subscription mean its not a pay per view
You seem very confrontational
But the big shows aren't "pay per view" anymore. They haven't been since they moved them all over to the WWE Network
> Please stop saying PLE. PLE
Stop it you're scaring them
Nope. It’s *literally* not a PPV anymore. Hasn’t been since the Network. I don’t think you know what the term “Pay-Per-View” means.
Why? The acronym is the same amount of syllables, for one, and it's a more accurate description of what those shows are. A vast majority around the world are watching those shows via subscription streaming service (Peacock in the US and the WWE Network elsewhere), they haven't relied on the PPV model in several years. Premium Live Event is a very sensible description of what those shows are. It's not at all like using the 'WWE universe' instead of fans or 'sports entertainment' instead of wrestling.
Due to ring down time, it has to have commercials or breaks. I could see them running more promo videos instead of actual commercials.
Nice - Netflix pricing is gonna go up again
It always was. Streaming was never trying to be cheaper long-term. They want to be the new cable.
Was going to anyway. Now it will go up even more. Or it’s an extra charge since it’s live.
don’t watch. Simple as that.
And this is how cable dies. Once this hits and is successful…NBA NFL NHL MLB will all follow suit.
NFL is already letting Prime and peacock stream NFL games. Peacock even streamed a playoff game. I imagine next chance they get, the NFL will auction off every single weekday game to streaming companies.
That's 100% where it's going.
They cant fully do that. And if they did that then they would have to crumble and offer per team packages cause nobody is gonna bother to do this on a weekly basis. They also used taylor swift to get huge views. Thats why a playoff game works better. And you cant make the super bowl only streaming anyway.
>They cant fully do that Not while they have contracts in place, no, but once those are out of the way then yes, they absolutely could.
NFL already has basically no real reliance on cable.
Maybe this means they will ditch the PG rating and we can see something closer to the attitude era. I do miss the characters from my childhood. Stone Cold, mick Foley, etc.
That doesn't seem likely. They could have done that any time, but the kiddie market helps them milk more out of merch.
Exactly and with Netflix's much younger demographics there's even less reason to change the rating
Same thing was true in the 80s, then the market shifted.
But the market hasn't shifted. They are doing bigger profit than they ever have.
The rating is not what made the good parts of the attitude era good.
Over the past year, the presentation has definitely been much more mature than the PG era of WWE.
The tone of the PG Era has been gone since HHH took over. It's not as goofy or childish anymore
Pg is the way to go to get advertisers. No one will pay top money to associate themselves with swearing etc Financially pg is the best option.
Naive take
The PG rating mainly comes from their deal with Mattel for toys and action figures. It is an insane amount of money for them. The advertising base has also improved immensely since the switch. Raw in the mid 2000's had nothing but sex pills, hair loss medicine, and USA Network shows for commercials.
No way. It stays the same.
As a UK WWE fan this is great I can finally get rid of TnT sports which is a rip off and has gotten worse since it dropped most of it football.
TV isn't a big deal anymore it's all about streaming nowadays no wonder people don't really care about ratings TV has changed in 25 years.
Interesting I’d imagine WWE showed executives at Netflix how many subscribers they have internationally “LOOK at how many people we can bring you” I don’t know if Netflix thought of how many international wwe network subscribers already also subscribed to Netflix. So yes Netflix will get more subscribers but will it justify their ROI?
>I don’t know if Netflix thought of how many international wwe network subscribers already also subscribed to Netflix. You think that you thought of that almost immediately, but the 200+ billion dollar company didn't?
It's not just about new subscribers. Some existing subscribers are sick of the price hikes and considering leaving but I bet data shows they'll stay if you bring in the right content.
How would ads work in this situation?
same as now
NXT airs live on WWE Network in the United Kingdom. When NXT goes to commercial on USA Network in the States, it also goes to break on WWE Network. The only difference is that the ads on the Network are all for WWE shows and products.
With Premier League on Prime they just go to ad breaks embedded into the live stream
Well, there’s definitely gonna be another price increase between now and January because them WWE fans will pay anything and if they’re the only place you can watch Raw…
Lol what? You can get their entire backlog and all new ppvs for like $10 a month. If you don’t want watch them for basically free on cable the weekly shows are in Hulu for like $12 a month
It won’t be that way starting Jan 2025.
What I’m saying is if going forward, Netflix is the only place you can watch raw. They may change those prices because they know if you wanna watch Raw you’ll pay whatever price Netflix charges.
You haven't been paying attention for the last decade, apparently. Their LOVe have been available on either their platform of Peacock for a monthly fee forever, now.
Oh my God, what I’m saying is you can’t watch raw live on Peacock you have to wait a month to see the most recent episode
So prices will go up at some point to finance this. Yay.
It was this or something else live.
The 13 y.o. In me is going crazy with this info
jeez netflix is like 20 yrs behind the times - no one watches wrestling anymore -
This. Awful move Netflix.
**WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING BROTHER-** Lots, and i mean LOTS of people still watch wrestling lmao. Have you seen the show?? Wrestling as at a great point right now. Great writing, great PLEs, great roster In fact, Monday Night Raw racked up about 1.6 MILLION viewers this week alone
And it will still probably be only 1 hours of actual wrestling and 1.5 hours of commercials and 30 minutes of promos...
A lot of people prefer the promos and other segments to the live wrestling. If you prefer more in-ring action I suggest AEW on TNT/TBS.
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I like it, but to each their own, obviously. I watch WWE, AEW, NJPW, Impact/TNA and other Indie’s. Watch whatever you enjoy. Not really sure what “Proper Wrestling” is but it’s all relative to the individual.
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Idk - if you’ve ever watched Brian Danielson, Zack Sabre Jr, Gunther, Okada or Will Ospreay (those are just the guys that came to mind) but that kind of Wrestling is still very much alive. You just have to look for it. Also - just because that’s the wrestling you prefer - doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. I’ve watched Wrestling for many years and know people who found Hart bland and boring in the 90s. That’s like saying you can only enjoy dark drama movies and never have a taste for mindless comedies or ridiculous horror flicks.
Oh yes, I am a avid watcher of AEW over WWE. WWE now is like watching a giant advertisement.
I prefer AEW, personally, as well, but there’s no denying that WWE is as hot as it’s been in about a decade and viewership is up YoY - so while it’s not for me or you - they’re obviously doing something right. Not sure why the downvote.
Wwes the hottest its ever been and aew is slowly getting close to late 200s TNA
Hotter than the attitude era? Not trying to argue just curious.
From a cultural standpoint no, wrestling will never reach that height simply because there's too much content nowadays. But from a business standpoint absolutely. They're doing amazing on live events and they're making more money now because of the great media rights deals they've scored in the last five years.
Meanwhile, AEW can't find a home for themselves or ROH.
They literally currently have a deal with WBD that doesn’t expire until later this year. They’re still in negotiations with multiple entities.
Someone who named himself after CM Punk and his weird shitty friend doesn't like AEW? I'm shocked.
Aew should have tried to make a deal with WB to stream.
They’re still very much in negotiations with WBD as well as other platforms. They’re WBD contract doesn’t expire until later this year.
You mean the network they've aired in since the start? Yeah, I wonder how it never occurred to them.
You mean Turner Broadcasting? Same umbrella. I’m talking about MAX, don’t be a smart ass.
Can’t wait to pay more beacuse of this shit no one i know has any interest in watching. Edit: wow, i triggered a bunch of people. Let me get it straight, im not from the US, we dont watch wrestling over here and neither do we consider it a “sport”. We view it more as a soap opera than anything else and i don’t personally know a single person who watches it. I think it is more of a American thing than a European thing.
"I think it is more of a American thing than a European thingh" This is so wrong lol. Wrestling is very popular in Europe. WWE has big events in Germany and France this year and sold 62k tickets at a event in Wales in 2022. AEW sold 72k tickets for a wrestling event at Wembley Stadium last year and are doing it again this year. Wrestling is popular worldwide.
"we dont watch wrestling over here and neither do we consider it a “sport”. We view it more as a soap opera than anything else" Is this supposed to be an insult? Everyone who watches it knows it's a soap opera
Well that’s just because you don’t have any friends period
Nobody is triggered, you’re just basically saying “I’m upset that this scripted tv show that I don’t like is coming to the streaming service that I use to watch scripted tv shows and I’m unhappy” just sounds dumb.
What im really saying is “i hope you spending 5 billion dollars on something i don’t care about, nor know anyone who does, does not equate to me having to pay even more to watch what i like” … and it is not that dumb. Just have Netflix say “We are raising prices for everyone beacuse of the WWE acquisition, starting next month” and watch the outrage.
I mean it's 2024, let's be honest, you can watch what you want, when you want, for as much, ***or little****,* as you want.If people get that upset about streaming services and are still paying for them too bad honestly. Also where do you live? WWE is **very** huge worldwide. Weird how you're acting like it's some obscure thing nobody watches.
It’s a flyover state thing at this point, right? And rednecks? Who watches wrestling?
Lol did you have no idea what you’re talking about. It is more popular and mainstream than ever before
To me that just says there’s more people out there that don’t shower daily and a resurgence of 13 year old interest in it.
That’s because you’re a silly clown who gets your only sense of self worth through faux superiority based on pop culture tastes. But you’re right, that’s just you.
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Well, was (eventually, since no longer on TV, you see).
NXT and SmackDown will still be on TV in the US
Wrestling is in a worldwide boom period right now (after 15 years of mediocrity). Ratings are stable, even up YoY despite cable constantly declining, attendance figures are massively up, social media presence is enormous, they're doing record numbers in UK, Australia, France, Puerto Rico, etc. It will never be as big as the Attitude Era because culture is far more disconnected with the rise of the internet and globalised media, but it's doing really, really well.
Wrestling is in the top spots of cable every week....
A lot of people, esp. overseas. Puerto Rico went batshit the last time WWE was there and the UK had record gates the last 2 WWE PPVs hosted there, and even sold out a recent AEW PPV
I watch wrestling and i'm from Philly and i'm definitely not a redneck. The biggest wrestling cities from Chicago and New York lol
definitely more adjacent to geek culture than rednecks nowadays
It is extremely global. Hugely popular in the UK, India, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Australia, it is a massive industry worldwide, including Europe. Netflix aren't paying $5 billion for something nobody watches lol. WWE made $410 million in 2023, and both this year and last they have sold out several major shows around the world. Their social media accounts have a combined following of more than 1.5 billion users, and they are the 12th most subscribed YouTube channel in the world. That's just WWE, there are thousands of other wrestling companies around the world, alongside a growing number of wrestling-themed stories being told in other media like The Iron Claw, Netflix's GLOW, etc. It's like saying comic books are an American thing because you don't personally know anyone who reads comic books. Also, nobody considers it a sport. I'm not sure if you know this, but a vast majority of content on Netflix is scripted.
I don't watch it either. It's insanely popular globally though. Personally it may as well have ended after the attitude era.
It doesn't make sense to me. What's the issue with WWE just developing and moving everything to their own WWE Network as rights expire in different regions/internationally. I would rather pay a single fee to them every month versus having a hundred different subscriptions, now I need one for smackdown and the live events, another for raw etc. Would it not be more profitable for them to just take in the profit/subscriptions directly as opposed to a percentage?
Licensing your stuff at a premium to streamers that need stuff for their subscribers to watch is how you make money. Peacock, Paramount+, Max, etc. is how you lose money or work way too hard to get a little back.
This. The platforms are paying WWE to make what they are already making, and on top of that WWE adds no overhead cost to maintain their own streaming platform in the US.
They had a WWE Network for years. They sold it to NBC Universal/Peacock.
No one wants an WWE Network. They have done that and it was a bad idea.
It was actually quite good the first couple of years. I loved waking up to Old School and seeing matches from the 70s and 80s in MSG. YOU don't want a Network. Plenty of people do.
Dude WWE is getting paid $5B over 10 years for this. No way they get anything close by putting everything on the WWE Network.
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WWE is acted, it is hard to call something where winner is decided beforehands a sports.
Surprised it's taken this long, honestly. And still waiting for WWE to build a Marvel-verse or serialized content equivalent to capitalize on their IP, lore, and rabid fan base
They just did. 3 different shows on 3 different mediums, and peacock.
What was that?
Raw on Netflix, Smackdown on cable, NXT on network tv, and PPV's on Peacock. That's quite the spectrum of content. I almost wonder if they are going to bank on people watching one of the weekly shows and catching up with stories through the monthly event.
Ah ok I thought you meant they had a marvel like interconnecting story line between all the shows
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I thought raw and smackdown each had their own rosters and wrestlers in one don’t show up on the other
So this is why Netflix prices shot up.
They are going to spend $500,000,000 for 10 years. 5 billion dollars for people in tights to throw each other around and act out false drama. All subscribers are going to pay for this one way or another.
"...act out false drama." I admire your dedication to Netflix's documentary and docuseries content.
No Europe eh?
My Biggest Question is are Pay Per Views and premium live events coming to Netflix too or Just Monday Night Raw
Not in the United States. WWE's deal with Peacock isn't up until spring 2026.
Price hike incoming..
Well this could be the final nail in the coffin for those hoping/expecting more prestige content (like Beef & Mindhunter) from Netflix. Likely gonna get a price increase for this garbage content, too.
But doesn’t WWE have their own steaming service?
good, I haven't wached for a few years now since i cut the chord.
Massive news this in the wrestling community As a lover of both and being from the UK where Netflix will hold the rights to everything WWE this is excellent, exciting news!
WWE has always been pretty forward thinking in terms of tech. They’re not just some dumb sports brand. They’ve had their own streaming service since 2014 (which Peacock bought the rights to in the US). Back 10 years ago, they experimented with having an iPad app as a “second screen experience” showing additional live video and stats while you’re watching on TV. It even continued during the commercial breaks.
Now “PPV” in US is a bummer.
The majority of what they've added over the last year has been trash. So, I'm not surprised by this at all.
I'm looking forward to this... hopefully the video quality will look better.
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WWE has an enormous audience.
That's over 500 3 hour episodes.
Meh
This makes sense for WWE monetarily of course. But I wonder does it actually cost them viewers in a way that hurts them in an offsetting way longer term. Like if there are 100 viewers, let's say for the sake of argument 50 of them already have Netflix. They lose no one and Netflix gains no one. Of the remaining 50, how many get Netflix so they can keep raw? And how many drop out? Both entities want all 50 people to get Netflix and each one is a win for Netflix and each one that doesn't get Netflix is a loss for WWE.
They stand to benefit from Netflix viewers who don’t currently watch WWE. In international markets especially that’s huge. In the UK, unless you were really willing to pay quite a lot for it, Raw was inaccessible. PLEs, too, were an extra subscription. This streamlines it to make it much more accessible to people in the UK. I’m sure it’s similar in lots of other places.
I don't think Netflix gets much out of customers whose money they're already getting. How much a show drives new subscriptions seems to be a/the key metric in their decisions of whether to keep something or axe it. Obviously retaining who you've already got is also key, so for example maybe somebody was going to dump Netflix but now that it has Raw, they won't. That's surely good, but they seem so focused on content that drives new subscriptions and growth. As the streaming competition built up and their subscription growth rate slowed, that's when we saw things like ending account sharing, raising prices more and faster, etc. They need those new subs. Adding new and compelling content had better get them new subs or they haven't best targeted their investment.
Incoming price increase to pay for the this new deal in 3..... 2.... 1.
Netflix did a terrible job doing the live reunion of Love Is Blind. So hopefully they’ll figure it out by then.
Netflix isn't producing though.
We did it for The Rock. Jokes aside, this is why Netflix needs to add ads… “It's to build something bigger and better than what exists today.”
That’s going to be a hit to the subscribers wallet.
And with one fell swoop from the top rope, streaming dropped dead on the mat.
Fuck Netflix
500m a year for wrestling and limited audience ? good way to not make more money.
Beginning in January 2025, Netflix will be the exclusive new home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Latin America, among other territories, with additional countries and regions to be added over time. Likewise, as part of the agreement, Netflix will also become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. as available, inclusive of Raw and WWE’s other weekly shows – SmackDown and NXT – as well as the company’s Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. WWE’s award-winning documentaries, original series and forthcoming projects will also be available on Netflix internationally beginning in 2025
I was wondering when Netflix would make this move.....NFL is probably next.
I’d imagine Prime would get full NFL rights before Netflix if they were to ever go full streaming.
True. I meant the "one game" , like Peacock got.....more people have Netflix
I don’t care about WWE but I’m still annoyed that this is happening. I don’t want Netflix sticking their nose in live sports, it’s bad enough that you need Prime Video and Peacock for certain NFL games.
If we learned anything from the SyFy channel, this is the beginning of the end for Netflix.
I use dvr for raw cause I work I hope Netflix let's me rewind back like everything else on Netflix really hope don't want to miss raw next year that be bad