A decision by Netflix to grab the global rights to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) events has started to pay off for the streaming giant, according to a new report from Ampere Analysis.
Live WWE events, including its weekly flagship program “Raw,” helped drive more than 300 million viewing hours to Netflix during the first half of 2025, Ampere said.
On its own, Raw managed to drive more than 6.5 million viewing hours, Ampere said. April’s WrestleMania event generated another 19.8 million hours across its two-night run. Most of those global views were outside the United States; in the U.S., Comcast’s Peacock offers WWE’s premium events — which were previously offered through a pay-per-view model — and ESPN has since taken over those rights.
Ampere said WWE’s viewership on Netflix are part of a broader strategy in the streaming industry of grabbing live sports rights in order to drive engagement and reduce churn. The total annual value of sports rights held by subscription-based streaming services climbed from $3.2 billion in 2020 to more than $12 billion in 2025.
“WWE Raw” ranked as the third-most-watched series on Netflix in the first half of 2025, with 88.6 million total views (defined as viewing hours per hour of content). Only “Adolescence” and “Squid Game” ranked higher, and both were available globally. By comparison, “WWE Raw” was available in just 12 markets, representing about 52 percent of Netflix’s subscriber base.
The show’s weekly audience has stabilized following a heavily promoted debut, averaging 6.5 million viewing hours each week. Additional WWE series “SmackDown” and “NXT” contribute a combined 2.2 million hours of weekly viewing, while major tent-pole events like “WrestleMania” deliver significant spikes in engagement.
Viewers who joined Netflix for WWE programming appear to be sticking around longer than fans of other one-off sports events. Ampere said that among U.S. users who subscribed around the premiere of “WWE Raw,” 18.2 percent canceled within 60 days — better retention than comparable Netflix live events such as the Jake Paul vs. Tyson fight (25.6 percent churn) or the NFL’s Christmas Day games (27.2 percent).
WWE’s arrival on Netflix also appears to be driving subscriber growth among U.S. fans. Ampere’s survey shows that the share of American WWE viewers with a Netflix subscription rose from 62 percent in the third quarter of 2024 to 76 percent in the first quarter of 2025, compared with an increase from 59 to 61 percent across all respondents.
Netflix and WWE still have room to grow globally. Ampere identified several international markets, including South Africa (27.6 percent of viewers engaging with WWE), the Philippines (22.6 percent), and India (25.5 percent), where WWE content could drive similar audience engagement if distribution expands.
“WWE Raw’s weekly broadcast is building a loyal, regular viewership—perfect for helping Netflix reduce churn versus one-off major events,” said Joshua Rustage, a senior analyst at Ampere Analysis. “The U.S. experience with WWE underscores why streaming platforms are investing in premium, recurring live sports rights.”
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