WWE reality show & documentaries planned for first year of Netflix deal

By Josh Nason
Published: 20 May 2024, 09:23

A WWE “Drive to Survive” type reality show is planned to be part of the first year of the WWE and Netflix partnership.

Speaking at the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference Monday, TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro talked about the relationship with his usual talking points, but added that as part of the deal that begins in January 2025, they will also do “a lot of ancillary shoulder programming” next year that includes a series akin to the popular F1-focused docuseries in addition to documentaries on other WWE stars.

The “Drive to Survive” series that launched in 2019 is credited for a massive boom in F1’s popularity worldwide. The league signed a three-year extension with ESPN in June 2022 worth up to $90 million annually — a huge increase from their previous $5 million/year deal.

The WWE/Netflix deal begins this January, bringing Raw to the streaming giant domestically and all WWE content internationally for those regions that don’t have existing deals still in place.

Some other interesting quotes:

He said they will expand their WWE deal with Saudi Arabia over the next 6-12 months. Interestingly, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (Turki Alsheikh) said an “enhancement” will be announced this month which could mean a future WrestleMania or Royal Rumble heading to the country in 2026 or 2027 if he has his way.
In talking about the UFC’s impending TV rights negotiations, he openly opined that ESPN should consider buying out the PPV rights and put them all on their impending direct-to-consumer flagship streaming channel exclusively. He said they haven’t pitched that to ESPN, but used that as an example of the “flexibility” they will bring to those conversations.
He said packaging up UFC/WWE events is a big part of their strategy going forward with attendance, site fees and pricing as key performance indicators. He said if they (WWE or UFC) are coming to town, it doesn’t have to be all cash when it comes to site fees, but they have to heavily incentivized to bring events to a city.
He said if next June’s UFC debut in Saudi Arabia goes well, he feels Dana White would be very open to bringing future events there past the one they already signed for — one that got twice the fee as the first one that hasn’t even happened yet.