Netflix Vice President of Global Live Sports and Entertainment on Being “Thrilled” With WWE Partnership, They Don’t Often Talk To WWE About Standards Of Blood Or Cursing On WWE Shows, & More

A recent episode of the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast featured Gabe Spitzer, Netflix Vice President of Global Live Sports and Entertainment as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Spitzer’s thoughts about Netflix’s current partnership with WWE and him being thrilled with how it has been hitting “every metric” they hoped for.

“I’ve been a fan for a long time and, you know, great partners over there with people like Paul Levesque and Lee Fitting and Nick Khan. They’ve been great partners. and I think we’re thrilled with the results so far. We knew in the US, with something like Raw having that every week, there was going to be that passionate loyal fan base and they are going to show up, and they have come in expected ways over to Netflix and in predictable ways. It’s hit every metric that we’ve hoped for on the US side.

I think the place where we’ve been surprised in a good way and that will continue to grow is outside of the US. That’s really where we see the potential to continue to grow this partnership is, in the US we have Raw only, outside of the US in most countries around the world, we’re the home for all of WWE. So that’s Raw, that’s SmackDown, that’s NXT, and that’s the big Premium Live Events every month — be it WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, or SummerSlam.”

Spitzer also gave his thoughts about how Netflix and WWE have been able to work together to boost viewership in markets that Netflix is focusing on.

“It’s been cool to see as different countries have come online — as an example, Italy this year came online and they did a big PLE, the Clash in Italy, there shortly after. So they’re working with us and they’re saying, ‘Hey, where are the countries you want to continue to grow or how can we boost that viewership or can we bring an event there?’ They’re going back to Australia this year, they’ve been to Europe a bunch of times, they’re going down to Mexico in just a couple of weeks [September 14] for a big Raw that we’re really excited about.”

Spitzer also gave his thoughts about if Netflix have conversations with WWE regarding too much blood or cursing on WWE shows on their platform.

“Not often. Obviously, there are ratings standards that anyone has to adhere to. We’re Netflix so we try to be a little looser on that. The place where we’ve had conversations with them around locations has also helped us…there have been examples where, with the Raw coming up in a couple of weeks, it’s leading to a big Roman Reigns championship match after this tournament they’ve done, the ability for us to promote three to four weeks out for a big Raw, starting off the year with Bron Breakker vs. CM Punk. That’s the type of conversation we’ve had where you potentially go to this city, or if there’s a big matchup, can you let us know three, four, five weeks in advance so we can start promoting that outside of the PLEs. They’ve been very receptive of that.”

Spitzer also gave his thoughts about how WWE Superstars have been meeting with film and scripted series team for potential future crossover content for Netflix.

“Seth has been great. We’ve had him on NFL. We hope to have him back. He’s a big Bears fan so we’ll have to have him back on Christmas and he was great on Skyscraper. He’s awesome. We’re constantly meeting with other WWE talent to see if there’s a fit in the sports phase. They’ve been great partners in trying to volunteer that time. Not just in sports. They’re meeting with our film and scripted series team. How can we cast some of those superstars in some of our shows? That creates a larger cohesiveness across Netflix. It can help lift WWE and help us in terms of viewership to create more of that fan affinity.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com, Fightful.com 1 & 2