TKO President Mark Shapiro Says WWE Initially Spoke To Netflix About NXT
On January 23, WWE and Netflix announced that WWE Raw would be coming to Netflix in January 2025.
This marks a big change for WWE as Raw will be off linear television for the first time since the show premiered in January 1993, moving to an OTT streaming service.
At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference, TKO President Mark Shapiro commented on Raw moving to Netflix.
“When we met with Netflix, Apple, and other streaming platforms, the conversation always started with, ‘When are the PLEs up?’ When we met on Raw, always started with that. ‘We’re not here to talk about the PLEs.’ We are in the sense that it’s part of the narrative. When you watch Raw and SmackDown, things weave in and out of the PLEs. It’s an important part of the narrative concept. ‘Why wouldn’t Netflix be there?’ Let’s just get out of the gate with Raw strong. We have time. Let’s see how that partnership goes and that marketing delivers and the viewership shows up and we’re monetizing it from a sponsorship, consumer product, site fee standpoint, and then we’ll talk about where it goes, if it doesn’t go back to Peacock. We’re patient and that has bode well for us. We had a lot of pressure when we announced the SmackDown deal. Market was freaking out. “Raw, NXT, why didn’t they announce it? They don’t have anybody. There is no demand.’ There was pressure, but we said we were going to be patient and it was going to work in our favor. It over-delivered on our expectations. Never did I think Netflix was coming in. Not in my wildest dreams. When we first started talking to Netflix, it was frankly about NXT. It wasn’t even about Raw. That just turned into a bigger conversation. Then the Raw conversation became a global conversation,” he said.
NXT signed a deal that will see the brand move to the CW Network in October 2024. SmackDown will move to USA Network in the fall.
Fans can learn more about WWE Raw on Netflix by clicking here.
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