Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos ‘super excited’ about WWE Raw TV rights deal

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos commented on Raw coming to the streaming service next year.

The company released their Q4 2023 earnings report on Tuesday, the same day WWE announced they would be moving Raw to Netflix starting next January. During an interview regarding their earnings report, Sarandos said he was ‘thrilled’ to bring WWE to Netflix, highlighting WWE’s sports entertainment branding:

We are thrilled to bring WWE live programming to our members around the world. WWE Raw is sports entertainment, which is right in the sweet spot of our sports business, which is the drama of sport. We think of this as 52 weeks of live programming every week, every year. It feeds our desire to expand our live programming. Most importantly, fans love it.

For decades, WWE has grown this multi-generational fanbase we believe we can serve and grow. We believe the WWE has historically been under-distributed outside of North America, and this is a global deal, so we can help them, they can help us build that fandom around the world. This should also add fuel to our new and growing ad business.

When asked if WWE was separate from their $17 billion programing spending, Sarandos said it was something that fits in with that spending, comparing WWE as an inverse of Formula One racing.

“The events itself are the storytelling in WWE, this is a proven formula for us and we’re excited to jump into,” he said. “This is sports entertainment, very close to our core, the deal is long-term, we’re super excited about it.”

Both CNBC’s Alex Sherman and the Sports Business Journal reported on Tuesday that the WWE/Netflix deal is for 10 years and is valued at more than $5 billion.