WWE RAW Premiere on Netflix Delivers Record-Breaking Viewership – WWE and Netflix have announced an impressive debut for RAW‘s first episode on the streaming platform. According to a press release issued Thursday, the January 6 premiere drew substantial numbers in both domestic and global viewership.
The episode averaged 2.6 million households in the United States during live and same-day viewing, while the worldwide audience reached nearly five million. WWE highlighted these results as the strongest performance for RAW in five years. The viewership in the U.S. represented a 116% increase from the show’s average audience of 1.2 million households in 2024. Additionally, the episode more than doubled the key 18-49 demographic compared to last year.
“Netflix and WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings, today announced that the debut episode of RAW on Netflix got off to a strong start, with the Monday night program capturing 4.9 million Live+1 views globally,” the release stated.
Netflix’s viewership metric, described as total viewing hours divided by runtime, differs from traditional ratings. This method does not factor in co-viewing, making it a household-level estimate rather than a per-person count.
The premiere also had a significant digital impact. WWE reported over 223 million social media views across all platforms on the day of the show’s debut, marking a new high for the program in social engagement compared to any episode in 2024.
Here is the official press release:
WWE ‘RAW’ WRESTLES UP 4.9M GLOBAL VIEWS FOR NETFLIX DEBUT
Netflix (NYSE: NFLX) and WWE®, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO) today announced that the debut episode of RAW on Netflix got off to a strong start, with the Monday night program capturing 4.9M Live+1 views* globally.**·
The inaugural event on Netflix averaged 2.6 million households (Live+SD) in the US, according to VideoAmp, which is 116% higher than RAW’s average 2024 US audience of 1.2 million households, and higher than any other Monday Night RAW broadcast in the past five years. The event also more than doubled the A18-49 audience vs. last year.
On X, as soon as the event started, #WWERaw was the #1 trending topic in the US, Brazil, Australia, and the UK.
* #WWERaw trended #1 for 14 hours straight in the UK and occupied six of the top 7 trending topics in the US.
* #RAWonNetflix and #WWEonNetflix also trended in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Spain, and the US.
The debut of RAW 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.
The event saw Rhea Ripley reclaim the Women’s World Championship with a win over Liv Morgan, Roman Reigns topple Solo Sikoa in a tribal combat match, CM Punk best Seth “Freakin” Rollins in a highly anticipated grudge match and Jey Uso with a win over Drew McIntyre. Monday’s event also featured appearances from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Undertaker, Logan Paul, Travis Scott and John Cena, who officially kicked off his year-long farewell tour which will be featured prominently on Netflix.
In January 2024, WWE and Netflix struck a landmark deal to bring WWE’s flagship weekly program, RAW, to Netflix beginning in 2025. Netflix is now the exclusive home of RAW in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Latin America, among many other global territories. Netflix is also the exclusive home of SmackDown, NXT, archive content and all WWE Premium Live Events — including WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and more — in most international markets.
* Views are the total view hours for the program divided by the runtime. It is our nearest proxy for average minute audience (AMA) at the household level and does not include co-viewing. Data cut off midnight PST each day.
** Does not include viewing in 92 countries/territories where Netflix doesn’t yet distribute WWE, which includes France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.
San Jose, California will host the second episode of RAW on Netflix with the show set to take place from the SAP Center on January 13.
Stay tuned to WrestlingAttitude, WA.Com On Twitter, Bluesky and Google News for more.
WWE RAW Premiere on Netflix Delivers Record-Breaking Viewership
