World Wrestling Entertainment's flagship weekly program Raw will move to Netflix in 2025.
Raw debuted in 1993 and has aired 1,600 episodes to date. The three-hour live show has helped launch the careers of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Triple H, John Cena and other wrestling stars.
"This deal is transformative," Mark Shapiro, president and COO of WWE parent company TKO said. "It marries the can't-miss WWE product with Netflix's extraordinary global reach and locks in significant and predictable economics for many years. Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix."
"We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix," Bela Bajaria, Netflix CCO, added. "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. Raw is the best of sports entertainment, blending great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year and we're thrilled to be in this long-term partnership with WWE."
The WWE and Netflix deal is valued at $500 million per year for 10 years, according to Variety. After five years, Netflix has the option to opt out and extend for an additional 10 years.WWE presently has a deal with NBCUniversal that will see Raw air on USA Network until October. The program is the No. 1 show on the network, bringing in 17.5 million unique viewers over the course of the year.
