Netflix, WWE Execs Preview ‘RAW’ Streaming Move, Address Tyson-Paul Fight Glitches
“If it blinks a couple of times, and we do 60 million [viewers], I’m good with that.”
That’s the sentiment of Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the chief content officer (and retired wrestling icon) of the WWE, touting his sports entertainment behemoth’s new relationship with Netflix. He’s referring, of course, to the recent blockbuster showing of the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul spectacle — an event that pulled 65 million concurrent streams (and 108 million live viewers, per Netflix) while garnering less desirable attention over reports of glitches for some users. But buffering be damned. Levesque is accustomed to WWE’s Monday Night RAW bringing 1.5 million viewers to USA, a cable network recently offloaded by its parent company, so the benefits of moving his weekly live telecast to Netflix seem to outweigh any foreseeable costs.
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“Whenever we do any live event, we want it to go smoothly for every single one of our members,” said Bela Bejaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, who joined Levesque for a small press event on Tuesday at Netflix HQ in Hollywood and briefly addressed past livestream issues. “But you can’t learn these things until you take a big swing. We learned and have done a lot to get ready for the NFL and Beyoncé at halftime. We’re totally ready and excited for WWE.”
Netflix is indeed doubling down on live programming. There was the Chris Rock special, that Love Is Blind reunion debacle, John Mulaney’s invigorating spin on the talk show, the boffo Tyson-Paul fight and, most risky of all, the upcoming pair of NFL games on Christmas. But this 10-year, reportedly $5 billion deal between Netflix and the WWE to air RAW live, every Monday, is something else entirely. The streamer, whose top executives once claimed they had no interest in live programming, will air a live telecast on Monday, Jan. 6 — and, if all goes to plan, every Monday thereafter for a decade. It certainly won’t start with 65 million concurrent streams, but the WWE is betting on growth.
That growth, ideally for both parties, will happen across the streamer’s territories. But where it’s most likely to have an impact is abroad, which is why the WWE apparently started getting its ducks in a row well before the deal. WWE president Nick Khan, also in attendance at the event, suggested the gamble goes back to a conversation with Netflix’s Brandon Riegg — during which the streamer’s nonfiction series and sports vp told Khan to get his company’s international broadcast rights in order.
“He told me, ‘If we ever get to live, “WWE in Tunisia” is not really gonna be what Netflix or the WWE wants,’” said Khan. “Then, boom, a year ago we sat down together and within a month we had the deal done.”
Many countries were named in during the presentation. Many numbers were dropped, like viewership for the recent Wrestlmania rising 41 percent and the WWE being the No. 2 sport in India behind cricket. But what Levesque, Bajaria, Khan and Riegg seemed to emphasize more than anything was the potential for scaling the WWE brand while capitalizing on the dominant streamer’s broad umbrella of subscribers.
“We’re looking forward to doing documentaries, taking that great history and those characters, [using] that on the unscripted and the scripted sides,” Bajaria said of WWE IP. “There are so many great stars that come from WWE that we [already] have a great relationship with.”
“My gripe, having been in the entertainment industry for 20-plus years, is that I feel Hollywood sells to itself,” added Khan, who was an agent at CAA before moving to WWE. “With Netflix, if you look at the broad appeal of their programming, there’s something for everyone.”
The WWE currently has deals with Peacock, The CW and, despite the RAW departure, USA. (The latter is now home to Friday’s SmackDown telecast after departing Fox.) And while Khan was keen to emphasize that the WWE will “always respect incumbent rights” in future deal negotiations, the event’s take on linear TV was adequately summed up by Levesque.
“There was a timeline up there of different deals done over the years,” he said, gesturing to a PowerPoint slide that had already clicked away. “The WWE was on UPN and then Nashville Network, which became TNN, which became Spike, which is now Paramount, which is now wholly irrelevant. For us to be here with Netflix, it’s just a starting line.”
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