The WWE has been in a state of flux the last few months with news that Vince McMahon paid what is allegedly hush money to keep his affairs and other activities quiet, but another bombshell dropped during the WWE’s Q2 Earnings Call that could prove interesting.
For nearly 30 years, we’ve enjoyed WWE Monday Night Raw on cable television as well as Smackdown for 20 or so years, but that could change when their mutual TV contracts run out.
WWE Planning Raw and Smackdown Move to Netflix?
There’s a definite shift to streaming services with Impact Wrestling and OVW largely on sites like Youtube as well as their own websites, and now the WWE may be going full steaming.
Nick Kahn, Co-CEO with Stephanie McMahon, talked about the possible shift to Netflix for Raw and Smackdown when their contracts with USA and FOX, respectively, run out after the streaming giant entering the bidding for new content.
“On Netflix, we’ve been saying on these calls for many months that we believe Netflix is looking to enter the live space.
“We got confirmation of that this past quarter when Netflix made a bid for the rights for Formula 1. We believe Netflix’s appetite for live (programming) will only increase after the introduction of their ad tier.
“As we all know, the strongest CPMs are those sold against live programming.”
The plus and minuses
With Netflix losing tons of money the last year or so following some questionable programing decisions, it’s been reported that they’re looking to get into the live streaming of shows and events, with the WWE and other sports and wrestling companies all possibilities.
The upside to the WWE moving to a streaming service full time is they wouldn’t be restricted to the ratings and content limitations networks and cable channels use to ensure their content isn’t viewed by unintended viewers.
The downside is WWE fans would have to have subscriptions to multiple streaming services, which with this news would mean mainly Peacock and Netflix.
Peacock handed over a billion dollars to have the streaming rights to the WWE library and pay-per-views, so that would seem like the most likely home for their shows, but going to other streamers would diversify their earnings.
One thing that’s always been true in financial investments is to never put all your eggs in the same basket. And there’s the chance that each show could end up on different platforms as well, costing fans even more money to keep up with their favorite shows.
It’s worth noting that this is pure speculation based on what Nick Kahn said, and there’s every chance he said that hoping to increase a bidding war for WWE content.
Either way, things should be interesting in the next couple of years. What do you think about WWE moving Raw and Smackdown to a streaming service? Let us know in the comments below.
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