This week marked the debut of Monday Night Raw on Netflix. It wasn’t the first major sporting event to move to a streaming platform but may prove to be the most important over the long term. The NFL now has Thursday Night Football and Black Friday games on Amazon Prime, two Christmas games on Netflix, and games on Peacock. Other sports now have exclusive streaming packages that range from modest (MLB’s one game per week on Roku Channel) to extensive (all MLS games are on Apple TV+). These all paved the way for Netflix to take Monday Night Raw, a program with a 30-year history, and carry it in prime time every week throughout the year. We’ve raised concerns over the growing media “access” problem in sports for the past decade but moving Raw online could provide the best pathway for WWE to capture the next generation of fans.
Access Is a Growing Challenge for WWE Fans
For the past few years, we’ve highlighted access as the biggest immediate challenge in the sports industry. Sports Poll asks fans if they have access to the sports they want to watch. Most fans say that access is a challenge – only 53% of sports fans in 2023 said they could watch “all” or “most” of the sports they want. It’s even more of an issue for WWE fans. When asked if they have access to the wrestling events they want to watch, 44% of WWE fans say they can watch all or most. Casual fans are naturally less likely to subscribe to all the streaming and cable services required to watch every event, so they have more limited access than AVID fans: 40% of casual fans have access to all or most. Even among AVID WWE fans, only 61% can watch all or most of what they want. As more fans abandon cable and satellite, it will only become more challenging to keep those fans engaged. WWE is also more at-risk than most sports because of the young age of its fan base (average age of an AVID WWE fan was 34 in 2023, compared to 45 for sports fans).
WWE Fans More Likely to Have Netflix than Cable / Satellite
The biggest knock against moving content from traditional TV to streaming is that there is usually a significant drop in reach. Moving Raw to Netflix works the opposite way. More WWE fans have access to Netflix than cable or satellite or vMVPD services: 72% of WWE fans use Netflix, compared to 66% who have a multichannel subscription. Sports Poll data also shows that Netflix is the service WWE fans go to first when they want to stream something for fun. It’s not just WWE fans – Netflix is the first place Americans go to when they want to watch something. If you logged onto Netflix this past Monday, Raw was the featured program and the first thing you saw on your screen. That spot on Netflix may be the most valuable real estate in media today, and Raw should receive that billing every week during the year.
Greatest Value of WWE / Netflix Partnership is Access to Parents & Kids
The people most impacted by the loss of access to traditional TV are the youngest, especially people 18-34 who are “cord cutters” and “cord nevers”. Their loss of access is even more of a concern because they are (or will be) parents of the next generation of fans. If parents don’t have access to sports, their kids don’t have access. Those early years are essential for building fandom since 70% of AVID sports fans become fans by age ten. That’s also why the WWE/Netflix partnership could be so valuable. Younger parents are far more likely to have Netflix than cable or satellite. This means WWE should be better protected from cable migration because 80% of teens and pre-teens have access to Netflix. It’s the first place many of them go to find something to watch. We don’t know how long that status will hold, but for now, Netflix may provide the best pathway to reach a new generation of fans.
