WWE leaves Peacock for ESPN

[Hannibal Scorch]

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/walt-disneys-espn-exclusively-house-wwe-events-next-year-2025-08-06/
 

the breakdown

-US only. PLE’s to remain on Netflix internationally.

-$29.99 a month or $45.99 bundled with Disney+ and Hulu

interesting move. Most people thought Netflix would just buy the rights so PLE’s would be available in one place globally. $30 a month is a lot more than WWE Network and Peacock was, so I can see a lot of people not that fussed with their other sports not take it for that alone. WWE won’t care as long as they get paid, but I don’t think it’s a great move for the average fan. Time will tell.

[Infinity Land]

19 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/walt-disneys-espn-exclusively-house-wwe-events-next-year-2025-08-06/
 

the breakdown

-US only. PLE’s to remain on Netflix internationally.

-$29.99 a month or $45.99 bundled with Disney+ and Hulu

interesting move. Most people thought Netflix would just buy the rights so PLE’s would be available in one place globally. $30 a month is a lot more than WWE Network and Peacock was, so I can see a lot of people not that fussed with their other sports not take it for that alone. WWE won’t care as long as they get paid, but I don’t think it’s a great move for the average fan. Time will tell.

Deal is for $325m a year. Netflix were never going to claw that money back from US subscribers without changing their model.

[tiger_rick]

I watched a video that randomly popped up on YouTube recently about the rise and fall of the Network. The more time goes, the more that period of having all PPVs, original content and an enormous back catalogue available at your fingertips for £9.99 on pretty much any device will seem like halcyon days for fans. The current product was well ropey for most of it, save for NXT having a good rep, but the rest was incredible value.

[The Gaffer]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

I watched a video that randomly popped up on YouTube recently about the rise and fall of the Network. The more time goes, the more that period of having all PPVs, original content and an enormous back catalogue available at your fingertips for £9.99 on pretty much any device will seem like halcyon days for fans. The current product was well ropey for most of it, save for NXT having a good rep, but the rest was incredible value.

Aye, it really was the Network era (as opposed to the odious Reality era moniker they tried to bandwagon). 

It went beyond the week to week output being bad - it was just inconsequential. Something you still can't really say now for better or worse. Back then it was like when a big legacy rock bands bring out albums nobody really listens to just to continue touring and plugging the classics/brand itself. 

Entire years where Raw and Smackdown were completely pointless, but WWE being a theme park monument to itself took perfect bargain form in the Network and it was pretty much the way a lot of us 'followed' wrestling. 

The stats over how many old shows I just watched the first 20 minutes of and sacked off once I finished eating dinner must be crazy. 

[JNLister]

2 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

Deal is for $325m a year. Netflix were never going to claw that money back from US subscribers without changing their model.

It's not like it makes any sense for ESPN. 325 million is roughly $27 million per monthly show. If you pretend everyone who watches it on ESPN is a brand new subscriber who only subscribed to watch WWE, and you then pretend every penny of that $29.99 monthly fee is pure profit with no additional costs (eg for processing, additional server load etc), then they need a hair under a million new subscribers in the US alone.

WrestleMania did 2.4 million in the entire world, which obviously includes people who already subscribed to Netflix before it got WWE.

[Hannibal Scorch]

2 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

Deal is for $325m a year. Netflix were never going to claw that money back from US subscribers without changing their model.

Currently Netflix will struggle to claw back the $500m a year they pay for WWE Raw and PLE’s outside the US. The debut in India has had no impact on viewership. A country which used to have 9m people watching on TV. It’s also demonstrated how big it is in the US compared to around the world if the reports are accurate that about 55% of Raw viewers are in the US.

@JNListeri believe the WrestleMania rating there was on Netflix. WWE said the US audience was up from last year at around 3m

Edited August 6, 2025 by Hannibal Scorch

[Chili]

So that's them on ESPN, Netflix and NBCUniversal. Love me a corporate monopoly.

[Hannibal Scorch]

38 minutes ago, Chili said:

So that's them on ESPN, Netflix and NBCUniversal. Love me a corporate monopoly.

And Tubi which is owned by Fox which is why AEW Shockwave never happened.

[Infinity Land]

51 minutes ago, JNLister said:

It's not like it makes any sense for ESPN. 325 million is roughly $27 million per monthly show. If you pretend everyone who watches it on ESPN is a brand new subscriber who only subscribed to watch WWE, and you then pretend every penny of that $29.99 monthly fee is pure profit with no additional costs (eg for processing, additional server load etc), then they need a hair under a million new subscribers in the US alone.

WrestleMania did 2.4 million in the entire world, which obviously includes people who already subscribed to Netflix before it got WWE.

That's something they'll be saying to themselves is close possible. With the additional advertising and sponsorships they will try and get during the broadcast and the inevitable shoulder programming to promote the events. 

38 minutes ago, Chili said:

So that's them on ESPN, Netflix and NBCUniversal. Love me a corporate monopoly.

Tubi in the US as well which is Fox's free streaming service. With AAA and "helping" TNA get a deal. TKO also still to confirm what's happening with UFC

[FUM]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Currently Netflix will struggle to claw back the $500m a year they pay for WWE Raw and PLE’s outside the US.

The $500m a year includes RAW for the US and all shows worldwide too though and, if I’m not mistaken, they done their highest jump in subscribers ever when WWE joined. I’m also sure a Netflix executive recently said the deal has been a massive success so far.

Edited August 6, 2025 by FUM

[Hannibal Scorch]

14 minutes ago, FUM said:

The $500m a year includes RAW for the US and all shows worldwide too though and, if I’m not mistaken, they done their highest jump in subscribers ever when WWE joined. I’m also sure a Netflix executive recently said the deal has been a massive success so far.

They aren’t going to say it’s flopped. But considering episode 1 got 5.9m, and Raw in the US alone averaged 1.4m (within 24 hours) on cable and now Globally it gets 2.5m (within 7 days), I wouldn’t say it’s been a roaring success.

[Supremo]

Going off the reaction online, most people seem pissed off that this is going to cost them more to keep up. As a US fan, you’ll need Netflix for RAW, USA Network or Peacock for SmackDown and ESPN for PPVs.

Stonking year for WWE’s PR department.

[FUM]

4 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

They aren’t going to say it’s flopped. But considering episode 1 got 5.9m, and Raw in the US alone averaged 1.4m (within 24 hours) on cable and now Globally it gets 2.5m (within 7 days), I wouldn’t say it’s been a roaring success.

I’m not sure that’s a figure they’d be unhappy with. RAW only done about 100k viewers in the UK previously to give an aspect of how low the global figures actually are.

It’s still not on Netflix in some countries but yet still makes Top 10 globally quite often. Netflix will be more than happy with a show that is regularly a top 10 viewed show that’s also giving them free ad space every single week to between 2.5-3.5m people.

More so, they’ll be delighted at the PLE numbers. WrestleMania and Royal Rumble both done over 2.5m viewers and that’s without being shown on Netflix in USA.

India is the only market they might be unhappy at but it only launched there in April and I believe it’s regularly top 10 there too so I’m not sure if those have been incorporated into the most recent viewing figures or if India just has low subscription to Netflix generally.

[Hannibal Scorch]

@FUM

Netflix has around 12m subscribers in India. The Raw after they launched in India actually went down from the week before, suggesting those who can have Netflix there are not the same as those who watch WWE. 
 

Unless they see an increase, or at the very least plateau of subscribers for the next few years, I can’t see the return on investment. Remember Fox paid about $200m a year for Smackdown, they got about 2.5m watching live and they were losing money every episode. 

[FUM]

14 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Remember Fox paid about $200m a year for Smackdown, they got about 2.5m watching live and they were losing money every episode. 

I’d argue Fox and Netflix can’t be compared. Fox paid for one show in one country where the ultimate goal is to fill and make the money back on ad space. They hadn’t really considered that premium brands didn’t want to advertise during wrestling where there’s a bit of a bespoke audience these days and they could advertise during NFL instead. They probably overpaid too.

Netflix is entirely different in that it’s getting a number of shows and big events globally as well as their biggest weekly TV show in the US and a lot of archive material. They have never really sold ad space which they’re now able to and also get a bump in subscribers to compliment it. They get free advertising for their own shows. And, important for them, they get content and lots of it. It’s an entirely different deal and doesn’t have the same requirements to make money.

I doubt Adam Sandlers more recent films (Uncut Gems and Happy Gilmore 2 excepted) were doing huge numbers but Netflix was happy to pay $250m for 4 of them and they done well enough to extend at $275m for another 4. It’s an entirely different incomparable market to traditional TV in how it generates money.

Edited August 6, 2025 by FUM
All in the hips