Is Netflix Ready to Stream WWE Monday Night RAW Live?

It wasn’t long ago that Netflix announced that it had won the coveted rights to show Monday Night RAW live on its colossal streaming platform. Already doing quite well with US audiences, arriving on Netflix should, in theory, welcome even more viewers and fans to the weekly wrestling showcase.

However, perhaps this should be more of a worry for followers of the WWE. In recent times, Netflix has been trying to create a top-class live-streaming experience, and while they have improved, issues have clearly arisen. With another big test on the horizon, rightfully, there are question marks surrounding going live on Netflix.

Difficulties of Live Streaming

Live-streaming to a large audience certainly isn’t a straightforward task. Platforms that see increases in user volumes have to scale up accordingly, and in some industries, regulators even enforce measures to try to ensure that service connections aren’t lost and bugs or malfunctions don’t occur.

This is what occurs in the industry of live casino that Canada has to offer. Regulators lay out technical requirements that include that reasonable steps are always ready to deal with service interruptions that don’t put live players at a disadvantage. After all, when playing live roulette or blackjack, a connection loss could result in lost bets.

Luckily, the live casino sector has more or less perfected the approach, knowing exactly how much power is needed to provide a live, HD, uninterrupted stream to players while also offering play buttons that don’t malfunction if many players decide to press all at once. Knowing how much to scale is a big part of their success.

While a much larger audience, Netflix recently failed to scale appropriately to deal with the audience for the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul performance. It reached 60 million households around the world, but THR reports several buffering issues. Back in 2023, the live Love is Blind reunion proved so troubling that the live feed was cut.

A Huge Test Before RAW

Next up for Netflix will be another colossal challenge to scale up to in December. On Xmas Day, the streaming service intends to show two NFL games live. In 2023, Raiders vs. Chiefs on December 25 brought CBS 29.2 million viewers, while Fox’s Eagles vs. Giants had 29 million viewers, and the 49ers vs. Ravens game collected 27.1 million viewers.

Those are substantial viewing figures, and while only half of the exhibition event that followed the tremendous Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano battle, NFL games last a lot longer. Tyson vs Paul was a mere eight rounds of two minutes apiece and about an hour for all of the pageantry, but an NFL game runs for a good two or three hours.

Now, WWE RAW does tend to draw in much smaller audiences than this – as is to be expected from a weekly show that’s more about build up to the heralded major events. In November 2024, they were mostly holding steady at over 1.67 million on average, while Monday Night Football tends to combine for over 15 million viewers.

Demand for Netflix’s first outing of RAW is expected to bring in much greater audiences than 1.67 million simply by virtue of accessibility and the platform’s worldwide reach. So, the issue of scaling may not be as prominent as in recent live streams. That said, the Xmas NFL games will certainly be looked at as precursors to the expected WWE experience.

Netflix seems to have been ill-prepared for the demand for some of its biggest live streams, so hopefully, the streamer will have the formula worked out after hosting such huge events before RAW arrives on January 6, 2025.