The results are in, and while Netflix‘s premiere of Monday Night Raw was up over the spectacle’s average audience on USA Network, it’s probably too soon to call it a heavyweight champ.
Monday’s episode averaged 2.6M households live + same-day in the U.S., according to data from VideoAmp.
There’s a large enough bump that it’s likely Monday’s episode was still up, though it’s hard to say exactly how much.
Within 24 hours of its inaugural broadcast on Netflix, Raw was up to 4.9M viewers globally, according to Netflix.
The current deal between Netflix and the WWE makes the former the exclusive home of Raw via a $5 billion, 10-year rights deal.
It’s probably too soon to declare Monday Night Raw a heavyweight champion, even though Netflix’s premiere of the show drew a larger audience than the USA Network’s average.
In the U.S., Monday’s episode averaged 20.6 million households live + same-day. A. on the basis of VideoAmp data.
That is higher than any Raw broadcast in the previous five years, according to the streamer, and higher than Raw’s 2024 average of 1-2 million households per episode. A small disclaimer is necessary, though, as USA Network (and parent company NBCUniversal) use Nielsen to report viewership. These two audiences cannot be directly compared because VideoAmp and Nielsen use different measurement techniques.
Given that VideoAmp’s data is frequently overstated in comparison to Nielsen’s, Nielsen probably would have recorded a smaller audience for Monday night’s premiere, just as it did for the Golden Globes on CBS earlier this week. Although it’s difficult to pinpoint the precise amount, there is a noticeable enough bump to suggest that Monday’s episode was probably still airing.
According to Netflix, Raw reached 40.9 million viewers worldwide in the 24 hours following its premiere. That excludes the 92 nations and territories—France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea—where Netflix does not currently distribute WWE.
Once more, there is currently no way to directly compare that number to any data for Raw. Additionally, networks usually do not report Live+1 data.
Roman Reigns defeated Solo Sikoa in a tribal combat match, and Rhea Ripley defeated Liv Morgan to reclaim the Women’s World Championship, making the event an incredible spectacle regardless of the number of spectators. In a rematch, CM Punk defeated Seth “Freakin” Rollins, and Jey Uso defeated Drew McIntyre.
Netflix and the WWE currently have a $5 billion, 10-year rights deal that makes the former the exclusive home of Raw.
