SUMMARY
- WWE's major promotion, Monday Night RAW, is currently seeking new media rights as its deal with NBCUniversal is set to expire in October 2024.
- Amazon, with its $1.5 trillion valuation, is speculated to be a potential contender for securing the media rights for RAW.
WWE’s major promotion Monday Night RAW media rights are currently with NBCUniversal which will be expiring in October 2024. The Stamford-based promotion is rigorously looking for a new home for its red brand. Major companies like Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney’s FX are contending for the rights.
But recently John Ourans of Sports Business Journal has made a surprising prediction which caused a stir in the wrestling industry. He said that $1.5 trillion Amazon could be the one landing media rights for RAW. He then added that this could mean Monday Night RAW airing on Prime Video instead of television.
Sports Business Journal predicts that Amazon will land the WWE Raw TV rights.
Amazon’s approach can be so much deeper than others. You subscribe to Prime to get WWE Raw, you get free shipping on products. You get products that you wouldn’t have normally purchased, many produced… pic.twitter.com/r6sl56vxUU
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 8, 2024
Amazon Prime already has Thursday Night Football and with Monday Night RAW it could generously increase its Prime subscription. This move will target a young male audience and will also mark the change in wrestling media rights shifting from television to a streaming service. It is a well-known fact that with the rise of streaming services, cable TV is witnessing a decline in viewership like never before.
WWE can be interested in the deal as it can hugely benefit from the accurate data of viewership provided by the streaming service. This along with sponsorship and revenue from advertising will help the Triple-H-led promotion to assess the worth and value of their content. Recently with the comeback of CM Punk in WWE Warner Bros was reportedly interested in securing the rights for RAW. But their deal with AEW will make it unlikely for them to go for RAW.
Disney is also in the race to land WWE’s red brand on its FX cable channel. With speculations about renewing its existing UFC deal, Disney might go for securing broadcasting rights for both combat sports shows.
SmackDown and NXT have already found new networks
Last year in 2023 WWE entered into a deal with NBCUniversal that landed the Friday Night SmackDown program on USA Network for 5 years starting from October 2024. According to the reports, the deal was worth an average of $287 million per year and its overall value was $1.4 billion. The blue brand was previously signed with Fox for about $205 million per year and witnessed a rise of forty percent with the new deal.
In another move, WWE’s developmental brand NXT which currently airs on USA Network will be moving to CW in October 2024. The Triple-H-led promotion has signed a 5-year contract with CW for NXT broadcasting rights. According to reports the deal is worth $20-$25 million per year. WWE landed new deals worth billions of dollars for its promotions last year and it will be exciting to see where its top major promotion RAW lands with its current contract expiring in October 2024.