WWE Raw on Netflix: 2025s most consequential TV event?
In about two hours time, Netflix are set to change the future direction of its streaming service. The streamer had, for a long-time, said that it was never going to do sports. Then, that language started easing and shifting until suddenly we were seeing one-off live sporting events on the service. The biggest being the Christmas NFL pair of games.
Today, Netflix will live stream WWE Raw. It is part of a US$5bn ten-year global deal with WWE that will see Netflix the home of WWE globally (with some territories still waiting for local deals to expire before shifting over).
It’s a pretty big deal, but you will barely see any coverage of it on the Penske-owned Hollywood trade press (ie Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Indiewire) today because those sites are all still mostly dedicated to pumping out coverage around the Golden Globes which will be lucky to see 9 million viewers (I’ll have viewership data in tomorrow’s newsletter, probably).
Below is a graph from Wrestlenomics that shows the viewing data for WWE Monday Night Raw. Based on that, the likelihood of today’s WWE event won’t best the Golden Globes (going completely off US-only viewership numbers). But… being on Netflix immediately gives the WWE a greater accessible audience than it has had in a number of years with declining pay TV penetration. In the very least, one would assume viewership that would match the glory days of the early 00s.
Every sporting league will be watching to see what sort of viewership Netflix does with the WWE. We have seen what Prime Video could do with the NFL. But the expectations are higher for Netflix.
Access to eyeballs is the pressing concern for all sporting leagues right now as cable TV declines and skews older. The longterm value of each sport necessitates young fans discover it and fall in love. It creates fans/customers for life.
The narrative of the past 6 months has been around the escalated importance of broadcast networks thanks to their ability to command a greater viewership than cable networks. It’s why WBD is said to have lost the rights to the NBA (it doesn’t have a broadcast channel).
Where does Netflix go with sports once WWE is on-platform and established? Netflix’s head of unscripted Brandon Riegg spoke to The Athletic about why they partnered with the WWE:
For Netflix, that foray was made more comfortable by what the E in WWE is short for: entertainment. Although Riegg refers to professional wrestling as a sport, it has just as much in common with the scripted content with which Netflix is more familiar.
“I think that made it a more manageable step for us,” says Riegg. “The athleticism, the sporting presentation, is there, but for all intents and purposes, it is a soap opera. It’s a ton of telenovelas. It can tell stories and create characters that are no different from our scripted shows.
“And yet it’s on weekly. And there are very few programmes, outside of soap operas and telenovelas, that provide that sort of steady drumbeat of content, entertainment and storytelling throughout the year. And WWE happens to be one of those parties.”
What he isn’t saying there, which is something that I think will be key to where Netflix go with sports over the next few years: what plays well globally?
WWE is more action theatre than it is sports. It’s physical, heavily costumed, and isn’t bound too greatly by language barriers.
NFL made sense to partner with because of the full-body uniforms and general TV-friendliness of the game - the NFL could very easily translate into being a global event. It just needs a global broadcaster like Netflix to partner with it.
Golf and Formula 1 also make a lot of sense.
Of course, if WWE Raw flops on Netflix (unlikely), that’s going to lead to an unexpected pivot for not just Netflix, but a whole lot of global sporting leagues that are writing Netflix into planning for their next broadcast rights negotiations.
Fubo paid to go away-ish
For those who came in late: Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery teamed up to pool together their combined sports rights to create a new sports streaming service to be branded as Venu (pronounced as ‘venue’).
Fubo TV, a linear streaming service that bundles together TV channels for online distribution wasn’t happy about this as it would have devastated it’s business. So, it took them to court and held up the launch of Venu.
News today is that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery will pay Fubo $220m to settle the suit AND… (in the more significant aspect of the news story)… Disney will merge it’s Hulu Live TV service in with Fubo.
The Hulu on-demand business will remain seperate from the new joint-venture. The new JV will retain customer-facing Hulu + Live and Fubo services, but merge together back-room operations. This is a win for Fubo customers who will now be able to access a new paid-tier sports and broadcasting service that will carry Disney’s sports and broadcast networks including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, and ESPN+.
As I look at this, I’m reminded of my initial hot take around the Venu partnership. Fox, Disney, and WBD were attaching Venu to their linear business’. My contention was that this creates a perceived digital added value to otherwise tired linear channels in the event of an inevitable private equity sale.
This play by Disney supports this - if Disney does sell off it’s linear cable channels, it now also has three digital services that are built off of those cable channels. At a fairly low cost, Disney can now charge more for those linear channels in a sale as there’s now additional revenue streams attached to them, along with three sports-focused digital platforms that can also be sold. It’s Disney having it’s cake and eating it too. And then going for seconds and thirds.
The combined company will be the second-largest online pay-TV provider, behind YouTube TV, which costs $82.99 a month. These offerings, which deliver a cable-TV-like package of channels via streaming, are very important to devoted sports fans who want to watch live games and cable-news viewers.
Together, Hulu and Fubo expect to have more than $6 billion in revenue, Fubo executives told investors on a call Monday. In 2028, the company anticipates having over $7.5 billion in revenue and $550 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Venu announced in August that it would be available at $42.99 a month and carry some of the most valuable sports properties including the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, National Football League and college teams. That price tag is significantly cheaper than the traditional cable bundle, which can run north of $100 a month. ESPN plans to launch its own direct-to-consumer product later this year.
Read more: WSJ
Buffy re-animated
Claymation animator Joseph Brett has done a damn fine job with this recreation of the Buffy: the Vampire Slayer season 3 opening titles using plasticine. It’s great fun.
I’m reminded of an effort back in 2001, while the show was still on the air, to produce an animated spin-off series of it. Efforts stalled when showrunner Joss Whedon (remember that guy?) couldn’t find a buyer for the show. He cited the pretty high animation budget he was after as the reason the project never went forward.
Having seen the 4-minute demo reel, I understand why no one was all that interested in moving forward with it. The demo is, uh, politely, not good.
That said, I am a product of the 1980s where, as a kid, we watched all sorts of animated show spin-offs of then-popular prime time shows. I have very strong thoughts on ALF: The Animated Series and much-preferred the cartoon Punky Brewster with her leprechaun gopher pal Glomer.
An animated Buffy show is actually a pretty good idea - I’d like to see it happen.
News desk
Sharp will start selling TVs powered by the TiVo operating system. Read: The Streamable
The problem with Samsung’s The Frame is that as a screen that displays art when the TV is turned “off,” The Frame is really awesome. As a TV, it is middling. At the CES trade show, Samsung has unveiled The Frame Pro, which is aiming to improve the viewing experience. There’s also some really cool AI integrations, including real time language translation. Here’s Chris Welch from The Verge:
Meta has officially discontinued the mixed-reality Quest Pro headset. Read: Road To VR
A Grimm reboot movie is in the works at Peacock. Read: Deadline
It was strange to see a Penske publication criticising the production choices of the Penske-owned Golden Globes. Read: Indiewire
Even odder was seeing a second Indiewire review of the show slamming it for losing focus on films and TV. Read: Indiewire
The Fox-owned ad-supported Tubi reports it has 97 million monthly active users, that’s up from 78m mid-year. Read: THR
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Washington Post Ann Telnaes has resigned after the opinion editor rejected a cartoon that depicted Jeff Bezos, among others. Read: NPR
Netflix is launching a Rebel Moon VR game to an indifferent world. Read: Variety
Digital media guy Joseph Giraldi is the new COO at Sesame Workshop - notable with Sesame Street set to undergo a major overhaul that will upend the format of the show as it seeks a new home for new episodes. Read: THR
Fomat execs offer opinions on what to expect in 2025. Included in the article: André Renaud at Warner Bros, James Burstall and Joe Weinstock at Argonon, Sharon Levi, MD of Yes Studios in Israel, and The Gurin Company CEO, Phil Gurin. Read: C21
Lisa Wilkinson has formally departed Network 10 after more than two years off air. Read: TV Tonight
Related: Lisa… call me… I have an idea…What are you (Americans) paying for your TV? If you are subscribing to SVOD services with ads, you are today paying less than you were three years ago (on ad-free tiers) for a combined set of the 7 biggest SVOD services. With ad-free tiers, you are still paying less than you were for cable TV. Source: nScreenMedia
Trailer Park
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story streams on BritBox soon (it might be Feb 17…) and ITVX.
"A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story" is a compelling true crime drama telling the hidden story of Ruth Ellis and exposing the timeless British obsessions of class, sex and death.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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