Netflix headlocks in a $5B WWE deal with a mass-market move to gain subscribers

Call him John Streama… Netflix clinched a $5B deal to become the exclusive home of the WWE weekly wrestling show “Raw,” along with WWE staples like “Smackdown” and “WrestleMania.” The deal is Netflix’s largest ever for live sports, giving it hours of live KOs for the next decade. The streaming leader is looking to lure wrestlemaniacs as it builds up its subscriber base, including for its new ad tier.

• Payoff: Yesterday Netflix said it had gained a Q4 record of 13.1M subscribers, with its ad-supported plan making up 40% of new sign-ups (where it’s available). Sales grew 12% from a year earlier, though profit fell from the previous few quarters.

From prestige films to piledrivers… On Monday Netflix parted ways with its film chief, Scott Stuber, who’d ramped up original film production — at one time putting out a movie a week, including from star directors like Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and Greta Gerwig (Netflix even bought an iconic Hollywood theater to screen its films). Now that the streamer has shown its red-carpet chops, it appears to be focusing on mass-market content.

• Awards ≠ $$: While Oscar-winning flicks have had a mixed record at the box office, live sports commands high ad rates that streamers can use to squeeze extra $$ from ad plans (which are already more lucrative than ad-free plans).

• Eyes on live: Peacock recently streamed an NFL game to an estimated 23M viewers (with NBC saying it was the most live-streamed event in US history). Amazon paid $1B/year for NFL-streaming rights, while Apple TV+ nabbed MLB and MLS games.