Eric Bischoff Explains How Netflix Deal Helps WWE

WWE's five-billion-dollar deal with Netflix to exclusively stream episodes of "WWE Raw" from 2025 onwards has become a major talking point in the industry this week. In light of this, Eric Bischoff commented on the future of the promotion during "Strictly Business." It's clear to Bischoff that Nick Khan has been working towards this deal for the past year. Additionally, he believes WWE will grow internationally with Netflix. "What does that mean with Netflix? How about 240 million subscribers in 190 different countries? That's a big opportunity to grow your international live events, your PLEs, and just grow your international footprint beyond UK and Europe."

Bischoff also recalled his own struggles with distributing wrestling internationally, and explained that in Europe specifically, each country has its own restrictions against violent television, but that WWE will circumvent that with this new deal. "Their content is going to be as easily accessed in the UK and in France and in Germany. If you look at UK, it's a 1.5 billion dollar revenue, it's the second largest just behind the US for Netflix. There will probably be more people with access to the product. It's going to be fascinating to watch."

Continuing, Bischoff estimated that the number of viewers who have cable and Netflix will likely overlap, and that WWE likely researched the number before going into business with Netflix. "The actual user-viewer relationship with Netflix won't probably change much over cable." Bischoff additionally noted that Netflix's expertise will likely serve WWE well once "Raw" begins to stream on the platform. "Short story: I don't think they're going to lose any ground."

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