Netflix plans to house World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw, a weekly live show, highlighting the evolving landscape for sports media rights.
One of the most recent indications of the changing landscape of sports media rights is Netflix's revelation this week that it will soon serve as the new home of World Wrestling Entertainment's weekly live show, Raw.
The 10-year rights agreement, which Reuters said was worth over $5 billion, gives the streaming behemoth access to a sizable live sports viewership. The ability to develop a new revenue stream and reach a larger audience may be especially important for many streaming firms and sports entertainment organizations at a time when consumers are likely to cut back on spending, as reported late in the year.
The traditional cable TV paradigm is still being disrupted by subscription-based video companies. The majority of US households — nearly 85% — have at least one streaming service subscription, demonstrating the popularity of these services.
There has been a noticeable change in emphasis as the streaming market gets older, from focusing primarily on user growth to putting profitability first. Although drawing and keeping users is important for any streaming service, subscriber counts cannot be used as the only indicator of success.
Gaining more subscribers is not the only thing required for the streaming industry to become profitable. The media industry's saturation presents a problem, making it harder for businesses to grow their user bases and emphasizing the need for a more all-encompassing strategy.
