LOS GATOS, Calif.—Netflix said the debut episode of WWE’s ‘Monday Night Raw’ on the streaming platform got off to a strong start on Jan. 6, with the live programming capturing 4.9 million Live+1 viewers globally.
Early last year, Netflix made a $5 billion deal to acquire rights to stream WWE’s flagship weekly wrestling show beginning this month.
The inaugural Netflix episode averaged 2.6 million households (live-plus-same day) in the U.S., according to VideoAmp, which is 116% higher than ‘Raw’s’ average 2024 U.S. audience of 1.2 million households on cable’s USA Network higher than any other ‘Monday Night Raw’ broadcast in the past five years. The event also more than doubled the 18-to-49-year-old audience vs. last year.
Netflix also reported that the X hashtag #WWERaw was the No. 1 trending topic in the U.S., Brazil, Australia, and the U.K. as soon as the show started. #WWERaw trended No. 1 for 14 consecutive hours in the U.K. and occupied six of the top 7 trending topics in the U.S. #RAWonNetflix and #WWEonNetflix also trended in Brazil, Mexico, Spain and the U.S., Netflix reported.
In addition, Netflix reported that WWE generated 223 million social views across platforms on the day of the Netflix ‘Raw’ premiere, more social views than any ‘Raw’ episode in 2024.
The debut of R”aw‘ on Netflix, which took place at a sold-out Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, set a company record as the highest-grossing WWE arena event of all time. Additionally, the event set a merchandise sales record, becoming the highest-grossing non-premium live event of all time.
Netflix is now the exclusive home of ‘Raw’ in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia and Latin America, among many other global territories. Netflix is also the exclusive home of ‘SmackDown,’ ‘NXT,’ archival content and all WWE premium live events—including ‘WrestleMania,’ ‘Royal Rumble,’ ‘SummerSlam’ and more—in most international markets.
