Netflix Vice President of Global Live Sports and Entertainment Gabe Spitzer has expressed high satisfaction with the streaming giant’s ongoing partnership with WWE, revealing that international viewership performance has exceeded the company’s initial projections.
Appearing on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch, Spitzer reflected on the working relationship with key WWE executives, including Paul Levesque, Lee Fitting, and Nick Khan.
Global Growth Surpasses Expectations
While domestic metrics for WWE RAW have hit target goals as anticipated, Spitzer pointed to international markets as the biggest surprise and primary growth driver for the platform.
“I’ve been a fan for a long time and, you know, great partners over there with people like Paul Levesque and Lee Fitting and Nick Khan. They’ve been great partners. and I think we’re thrilled with the results so far,” Spitzer said. “We knew in the US, with something like RAW having that every week, there was going to be that passionate loyal fan base and they are going to show up, and they have come in expected ways over to Netflix and in predictable ways. It’s hit every metric that we’ve hoped for on the US side.”
Spitzer elaborated on how the international distribution framework—where Netflix hosts RAW, SmackDown, NXT, and Premium Live Events—has unlocked unexpected value:
“I think the place where we’ve been surprised in a good way and that will continue to grow is outside of the US. That’s really where we see the potential to continue to grow this partnership is, in the US we have RAW only, outside of the US in most countries around the world, we’re the home for all of WWE. So that’s RAW, that’s SmackDown, that’s NXT, and that’s the big Premium Live Events every month — be it WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, or SummerSlam.”
International Event Collaboration & Broadcast Standards
Spitzer highlighted how Netflix and WWE actively coordinate touring schedules to capitalize on key growth territories. He cited international Premium Live Events like Clash in Italy earlier this year as prime examples, as well as upcoming international stops:
“It’s been cool to see as different countries have come online — as an example, Italy this year came online and they did a big PLE, the Clash in Italy, there shortly after. So they’re working with us and they’re saying, ‘Hey, where are the countries you want to continue to grow or how can we boost that viewership or can we bring an event there?’ They’re going back to Australia this year, they’ve been to Europe a bunch of times, they’re going down to Mexico in just a couple of weeks [September 14] for a big RAW that we’re really excited about.”
Addressing ongoing online discussions regarding broadcast censorship, Spitzer clarified that content restrictions rarely present an obstacle in their working relationship. He noted that while standard ratings guidelines apply across all programming, Netflix aims to maintain a looser approach to content standards.
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