Picture: Netflix
It’s been virtually 4 months since WWE burst onto our Netflix screens, however how is the viewership up to now? Why is RAW the one present that will get featured within the prime 10? Is Netflix selling the franchise properly? What stats do we’ve got? Let’s dive in.
It’s vital to notice that to know the WWE’s efficiency on Netflix, it’s a must to perceive that the rights to the varied subdivisions are a bit tangled (to say the least). Some areas have entry to the whole lot, some have solely entry to partial quantities, and others have entry to completely nothing! We’ve obtained a full breakdown on the WWE rights and the place they’re a bit sticky in a earlier submit excellently put collectively by our personal Drew Ryan.
To simplify, although, Netflix has entry to a number of key stay occasions which are, for now, primarily in two buckets. Those buckets additionally embody vault objects which are typically restricted to the situation of the stay occasions.
- RAW (Available in probably the most quantity of areas together with the US)
- Special Live occasions like Wrestlemania, SmackDown, and NXT (Available in most worldwide territories however notably excludes the US)
You can see an instance information to a month’s value of WWE stay content material right here, however for some areas, you’ve obtained new WWE to look at on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
How Well Is RAW Performing on Netflix?
Now, it’s vital to notice that the normal means of calculated views (or accomplished viewing equivalents, as we’ve dubbed it) works barely in another way from the WWE due to the character of it being a stay occasion. For throughout programming on Netflix, you divide the hours watched by the runtime. While that’s principally the case right here, it really works barely in another way. As completely reported by Wrestlenomics with the assistance of Netflix, they break down precisely the way it differs with the WWE, which makes use of a blended views calculation. That means it considers the completely different runtimes relying on whether or not you watched stay, within the DVR interval, or the SVOD reduce.
Picture: Netflix through Wrestlenomics
With that in thoughts, and the truth that RAW has amazingly featured within the weekly prime 10s (offered by Netflix) within the TV charts, let’s check out the way it’s carried out from week to week. While the streamer pulled out all of the stops to make the primary stay occasion a giant occasion, issues have seemingly settled fairly shortly there after with common views throughout the 9 weeks value of information we’ve obtained up to now sitting at 3.32M views (3.0M excluding the primary occasion which seems to be an outlier).
| Week Period | Hours Viewed | Views / CVE | Weekly Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan fifth to Jan twelfth, 2025 | 17,700,000 | 5,900,000 | 4 |
| Jan twelfth to Jan nineteenth, 2025 | 8,200,000 | 3,700,000 | 4 |
| Jan nineteenth to Jan twenty sixth, 2025 | 6,600,000 | 3,000,000 | 7 |
| Jan twenty sixth to Feb 2nd, 2025 | 6,600,000 | 2,900,000 | 9 |
| Feb 2nd to Feb ninth, 2025 | 6,100,000 | 3,100,000 | 7 |
| Feb ninth to sixteenth, 2025 | 5,500,000 | 2,800,000 | 8 |
| Feb sixteenth to Feb twenty third, 2025 | 5,500,000 | 2,800,000 | 10 |
| Feb twenty third to Mar 2nd, 2025 | 5,500,000 | 2,600,000 | 8 |
| Mar 2nd to Mar ninth, 2025 | 6,300,000 | 3,100,000 | 7 |
Putting the views in graph kind, it seems to be like this:
We don’t have Nielsen stats that measure US viewing. WWE, in contrast to sports activities, qualifies to be within the weekly Nielsen prime 10s, however as of proper now, it hasn’t been featured.
So how properly is it performing? Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former govt at a bigger streamer and good friend of What’s on Netflix, wrote in a submit in mid-February 2025 (paywall) with the fairly uninteresting conclusion, “I think WWE Raw on Netflix is basically flat in the US. Or maybe down. That’s boring, but what the data indicates.” He cites Samba information and some different sources to assist that conclusion. The Samba information indicated that 664K households watched the January sixth livestream, which is simply shy of what the USA Network pulled within the yr prior.
How properly are different WWE Events performing?
While no different WWE occasion has managed to get into the worldwide weekly prime 10 titles, we will have a look at which of them are doing what enterprise elsewhere up to now, courtesy of information offered by FlixPatrol. Their information permits us to see which WWE occasions have picked up probably the most factors within the day by day charts in particular person nations.
As of March thirteenth, the top-performing WWE occasions are:
- WWE RAW (3,774 factors)
- Featured in 63 nations’ prime 10s – US and UK prime performing with 28 and 24 appearances within the prime 10s, respectively.
- WWE SmackDown (1,982 factors)
- Featured in 38 nations’ prime 10s – Australia, Bolivia, and Canada amongst top-performing nations with 14 days, 19 days, and 18 days, respectively.
- Royal Rumble (690 factors)
- Featured in 59 nations’ prime 10s – one-off occasion
- WWE Elimination Chamber (535 factors)
- Featured in 52 nations’ prime 10s – one-off occasion
- WWE NXT (114 factors)
- Featured in 17 nations’ prime 10s, Canada is the top-performing nation in 10 days.
Are the streams working properly on Netflix? How about as a product? Are there any rising pains? Let’s get extra into some opinion (be happy to disagree/agree within the feedback):
The Good: The Streams Are Mostly Stable and Look Good
Given the variety of stay stream blunders Netflix had all through 2024, significantly with their most streamed stay occasion in historical past, WWE has been comparatively bug-free. I discovered occasional folks complaining about audio issues and rare buffering on social media, nevertheless it was nowhere close to the magnitude of a number of the different occasions. I give a thumbs up on that half!
The Bad: Netflix’s Marketing, Discovery, and the Vault
Netflix appears hamstrung in its WWE promoting proper now. Although most nations have their very own bases of PR and advertising operations, Netflix nonetheless appears very a lot guided by its US operation. Take the primary Netflix socials – that’s just for the US, nevertheless it additionally has to stability being a worldwide account. But if that account, which has probably the most followers and engagement by a mile, begins promoting a number of the WWE occasions not on Netflix US, there’d be mass confusion, so its arms are tied.
When they’ve marketed WWE on their socials, I all the time get the impression that in the event you needed to put the WWE viewers and your common Netflix social follower searching for information on exhibits and flicks in a Venn diagram, there wouldn’t be a ginormous overlap.
WWE in the end excels at advertising itself for its established hardcore followers. It’s been doing this for many years, however in the meanwhile, when Netflix tries to leap in on it, it typically feels a bit clunky and misplaced. Maybe that’s simply me, nevertheless it was most obvious throughout a stay stream for Next on Netflix 2025, with the WWE opening to a ripple of applause and awkwardness.
As for discovery within the Netflix app, in the event you watch WWE, you’ve obtained a everlasting row or two with quick access, however in the event you didn’t test it out within the first few weeks, I’ve discovered that organically, with out looking, is fairly arduous. That situation could possibly be seen in two completely different lights, after all. Sure, I used to be given the schedule and an opportunity to work together, however I didn’t have interaction the primary, second, or third time, and the algo possibly determined it’s not for me. It’s good to not have it shoved down my throat every time I boot into Netflix, however however, that’s the first means I’m going to be uncovered.
Given the dimensions of the funding, one may argue that it must be a everlasting fixture within the left-hand menu on TV and even subsequent to Games on cell, however for the second, it’s purely pushed by the algorithm.
Ultimately, the WWE on Netflix is a marathon, not a dash. There is far work to do to get all Netflix areas on a stage enjoying area. We’ve additionally obtained to attend for extra official figures to return in. We’ll get a great learn of what’s happening when the 2025 H1 Netflix Engagement Report releases, which shall be throughout the Q3 earnings later this yr.