WWE’s Current Plans for WWE RAW Show Runtime Format on Netflix

As noted before, WWE announced this past Monday that their WWE RAW series will be returning to a two-hour format for shows starting on October 7th and through the end of this year on USA Network. WWE RAW is currently expected to return to its three-hour format when the show moves to Netflix.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials have yet to lock down their plans for the runtime format for their RAW shows on Netflix.

Meltzer reported that a normal RAW show at three hours is around 132 minutes in length in terms of content. Meltzer reported that it is possible to have the same amount of content in a two and a half hour show with less commercial time.

Meltzer also reported that there will be commercials on Netflix for RAW shows due to this was one of the reasons why Netflix had decided to sign a deal with WWE for RAW. Netflix reportedly is currently trying to add commercials to their programming and both WWE’s RAW audience and pro wrestling television audience are already used to having commercials on shows.

Unlike with the traditional cable television format, Netflix reportedly can adjust their commercials breaks a lot different than on regular television. This reportedly includes when and how long breaks are during shows and also not having a hard out for runtime length for shows.

Meltzer reported that WWE officials are currently considering plans for a dynamic and more flexible runtime format for shows in regards to how main events are handled. The idea reportedly being WWE officials can adjust the show length to go beyond three hours if they need longer time to tell a story and vice versa to go under three hours for similar reasons.

Meltzer reported that the main idea would be for the finishes for main event matches to be less predictable by not having shows end at a specific set time.