Netflix announced on March 8 that it will exclusively offer World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming in India starting April 1, 2025, marking its entry into live sports entertainment in the country.
This move is expected to help the streaming giant expand its content offerings and attract more consumers in India, an increasingly important market for Netflix's future growth, amid rising competition and demand for digital content in the world’s second-largest internet market.
As part of this deal, Netflix subscribers in India will be able to stream all of WWE’s weekly flagship shows — RAW, NXT, and SmackDown — as well as WWE’s Premium Live Events including SummerSlam, Money in the Bank, Royal Rumble and the upcoming WrestleMania.
Netflix stated that members in India will also be able to view these shows live or on demand with live Hindi commentary in the country, as part of its efforts to localise the content.
Additionally, the service will feature new and exclusive archival content from the WWE vault, the company said.
Netflix secured global exclusive rights to WWE content in a $5 billion deal spanning 10 years in January 2024. It began offering this programming in select markets in January 2025.
In India, Sony Pictures Networks India currently holds the media rights to WWE content, which are set to expire this month.
Read: Drama of sport: Why Netflix is spending $5 billion to buy WWE programming rights
Netflix stated that India has been one of WWE's most engaged international markets with a "devoted wrestling fanbase" "Through Netflix, WWE will reach even more fans with its unmatched combination of athleticism, drama, and larger-than-life storytelling" it said.
For Netflix India, which is estimated to have over 15 million subscribers, this initiative is expected to help expand its user base as competition intensifies in the country's video streaming market.
In July 2024, the US streaming giant said India was its second-largest market in terms of paid subscriber additions and the third largest in terms of revenue growth percentage for the second quarter of 2024, without disclosing the numbers.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has also previously called India as a "big prize" because of its enormous population of entertainment-loving people.
Last month, Netflix unveiled a lineup of 25 titles including new releases and returning seasons of popular television series as part of its 2025 content slate in India.
The service currently faces stiff competition from India's largest media conglomerate JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance Industries and Disney. JioStar recently merged JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar to launch the streaming platform JioHotstar.
Online retail giant Amazon also recently bolstered its streaming presence in the country, by merging two ad-supported streaming services - Amazon miniTV and MX Player - into a single entity called Amazon MX Player.
Apart from Amazon MX Player, Amazon also operates Prime Video, a subscription-based streaming service which is bundled with its Prime offering. Other prominent players in the market include ZEE5, Sony LIV, and Apple TV+.
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