WWE’s ‘Monday Night RAW’ Netflix debut averages 2.6M households in US, 4.9M globally

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The first episode of World Wrestling Entertainment’s "Monday Night RAW" on Netflix averaged 4.9 million viewers globally and 2.6 million households in the U.S., according to VideoAmp.

Monday’s three-hour show from the Intuit Dome outside of Los Angeles kicked off WWE's 10-year partnership with Netflix. The agreement, reached last January, is worth in excess of $5 billion with an option for Netflix to extend for an additional 10 years or opt out after five.

"RAW" averaged 1.2 million viewers last year on USA Network, according to Nielsen. Using Nielsen figures, it would be the highest-viewed episode since last year’s April 8 show, which was the night after WrestleMania, averaged 2.36 million in the U.S.

According to WWE, it was the most-viewed episode in five years.

The global figures do not include the 92 countries or territories where Netflix doesn't yet distribute WWE, which includes France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.

Netflix - which has 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries - is the exclusive home of "Raw" in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Latin America, with additional countries to be added over time.