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How Many Viewers Really Watched For WWE Raw’s Netflix Debut

By Lyle Kilbane • Published 9th January 2025

WWE Raw debuted on Netflix in a big way and now those waiting to find out just how many people watched the landmark show need wait no more.

John Cena kicked off his farewell tour on Raw as he announced not only was he entering the Royal Rumble, but he was going to win the whole thing to claim a title shot at WrestleMania.

Cena’s old rival The Rock was on hand to acknowledge the undisputed Tribal Chief after Roman Reigns battled Solo Sikoa. The Undertaker even made a shock appearance to endorse a new champion after a huge title change took place on the show before CM Punk stunned Seth Rollins in the main event to defeat his hated rival.

Rhea Ripley recaptured the Women’s World Title on the show as she took her revenge on Dominik Mysterio as a new era dawned on the company.

With WWE Raw now airing on Netflix the traditional wait for TV ratings is a thing of the past but now some numbers have come to light from WWE themselves and it’s no surprise that it’s ones they’re very happy about.

WWE Raw Watched By Almost 5 Million Households

TKO Group – WWE’s parent company has issued a press release giving details of the Raw debut with the headline number being that the show was watched by 4.9 million people around the globe with 2.6 million of those coming in the US.

The full press release includes more information including noting that the numbers do not include the 92 countries Raw airs in that are not yet part of the Netflix deal and just how the company has arrived at those numbers:

Netflix (NYSE: NFLX) and WWE^®, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO) today announced that the debut episode of RAW on Netflix got off to a strong start, with the Monday night program capturing 4.9M Live+1 views* globally.**
The inaugural event on Netflix averaged 2.6 million households (Live+SD) in the US, according to VideoAmp, which is 116% higher than RAW’s average 2024 US audience of 1.2 million households, and higher than any other Monday Night RAW broadcast in the past five years. The event also more than doubled the A18-49 audience vs. last year.
On X, as soon as the event started, #WWERaw was the #1 trending topic in the US, Brazil, Australia, and the UK.
WWERaw trended #1 for 14 hours straight in the UK and occupied six of the top 7 trending topics in the US.
RAWonNetflix and #WWEonNetflix also trended in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the US.
WWE generated 223 million social views across platforms on the day of RAW’s Netflix premiere, more social views than any RAW episode of 2024.
The debut of RAW on Netflix, which took place at a sold-out Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, set a company record as the highest-grossing WWE arena event of all time. Additionally, the event set a merchandise sales record, becoming the highest-grossing non-Premium Live Event of all time.
The event saw Rhea Ripley reclaim the Women’s World Championship with a win over Liv Morgan, Roman Reigns topple Solo Sikoa in a tribal combat match, CM Punk best Seth “Freakin” Rollins in a highly anticipated grudge match and Jey Uso with a win over Drew McIntyre. Monday’s event also featured appearances from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Undertaker, Logan Paul, Travis Scott and John Cena, who officially kicked off his year-long farewell tour which will be featured prominently on Netflix.
In January 2024, WWE and Netflix struck a landmark deal to bring WWE’s flagship weekly program, RAW, to Netflix beginning in 2025. Netflix is now the exclusive home of RAW in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Latin America, among many other global territories. Netflix is also the exclusive home of SmackDown, NXT, archive content and all WWE Premium Live Events — including WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and more — in most international markets.
* Views are the total view hours for the program divided by the runtime. It is our nearest proxy for average minute audience (AMA) at the household level and does not include co-viewing. Data cut off midnight PST each day.
** Does not include viewing in 92 countries/territories where Netflix doesn’t yet distribute WWE, which includes France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.