Pat McAfee and WWE President Nick Khan had a brief conversation about the recent deal between WWE and Netflix that would see Monday Night Raw leave linear television for the first time in 31 years and go to a streaming platform.
On Choosing Netflix as the Best Spot for ‘Raw’
After putting over Khan and former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon for being reliable mentors in the media space, McAfee got right into things and asked Khan why Netflix was the right spot for Monday Night Raw. Netflix will be Raw’s exclusive broadcasting home for at least the next five years and can be where it lives for up to the next 20 years.
Khan says that RAW never had to live exclusively on television or an NBCUniversal network, citing past examples of RAW and WWE’s other primary television show SmackDown airing on TNN and UPN, respectively.
“Once the deal with SmackDown closed, which will shift SmackDown over from FOX to USA starting this October 1, we hyper-focused on RAW,” Khan said. “It was a robust marketplace, we had a number of meetings, there was a lot of interest, there were a number of offers, and at the end of the day, to be the first movers with Netflix live on a consistent basis…we think it’s a great deal.”
The Reaction From WWE Internally
McAfee then asked Khan how internal stakeholders took the move. Khan responded, “overwhelmingly positive.”
“If you look at the streaming wars, Netflix continues to sit at the top of that perch, so it’s an entity everybody, certainly in our sphere, subscribes to,” Khan said. “We think it’s a great way to grow the WWE audience while growing the Netflix subscriber base.”
On The Future of Premium Live Events
Khan mentions nothing much other than that Premium Live Events air currently on Peacock and will seemingly continue to do so. WWE’s deal with Peacock expires in 2026 and, according to The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, whoever wants WWE’s PLEs will have to pony up.
On Whether the Show Will Remain on Monday Nights
Lastly, McAfee asked Khan if a rumored move off Monday nights was in the cards for RAW. Throughout the show’s 31 years, the show has regularly aired on Monday nights, despite competition from Monday Night Football and other live sports. Khan says for now, the show is safe on Monday nights, but things can change.
“At this moment in time, it remains Monday Night Raw,” Khan said, “but keep in mind we have ten and a half months until this deal is up and running.” Khan then mentions all the competition RAW faces as a Monday night program, between “the proliferation of gambling with Monday Night Football,” plus an enhanced MNF package, the “ManningCast,” NFL playoff games, college football and basketball national championship games and more. Despite this, Khan reports that RAW still did a 0.6 in the key 18-49 demos against the College Football Playoffs.
In closing, Khan said, “If we stay on Mondays, it’ll work, if we move it to another day, we think it will work too.”
