• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Against the backdrop of rising live sporting events for streaming platforms, Netflix is now seeing strong viewing results from its investment in the WWE.

Ampere Analysis says the WWE, the wrestling-entertainment programmer, is seeing an average of 6.5 million viewing hours per broadcast of its weekly show, "WWE Raw," which is 2-1/2 hours in duration. The show has been on the air since January 2025, when Netflix’s contract with the programmer began.

Through the 25-week period, “WWE Raw” has pulled in 88.6 million total views, defined as viewing hours per hour of content in the first half of the year.

“This is an impressive feat as it was available in only 12 markets covering around 52% of Netflix subscribers,” says Joshua Rustage, senior analyst at Ampere Analysis. “In comparison, first- and second-placed seasons of 'Adolescence' and 'Squid Game' were available globally.”

Compared to one-time sports events, like that of Netflix’s “Jack Paul/Mike Tyson” fight and NFL Christmas day games, there is lower churn of departing subscribers with "WWE Raw” --18.2% after 60 days of the show’s season premiere.

Churn for “Jake Paul vs. Tyson" was 25.6%, and came in at 27.2% for the NFL Christmas day games.

An Ampere consumer survey shows that U.S. WWE viewers with a Netflix subscription have now grown to 76% of the first quarter of 2025 versus 61% across all respondents -- up from 62% (and 59% for all respondents) in the third quarter of 2024.

The survey, conducted twice yearly, comes from 56,000 internet users ages 18-64 across 30 global markets.

Ampere Analysis estimates that sports rights held by U.S. subscription streaming services have risen to over $12 billion in 2025, from $3.2 billion in 2020.