Admittedly, streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) has been suffering a bit with its sports streaming these days. The Paul / Tyson fight proved to be a lot more than its systems could readily handle, to the point that some are planning lawsuits over the matter. But it hopes that things will go a lot better with its upcoming Christmas Day games, and of course, the start of WWE Monday Night Raw. Investors were nonplussed, sending shares up fractionally in the closing minutes of Friday’s trading.
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A USA Today report noted that Netflix will have WWE Monday Night Raw as part of its lineup starting January 6, 2025, complete with a special event at Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome. This was announced as far back as Complex Con in Las Vegas, and will feature some of the biggest names in wrestling around. On tap for the special event: CM Punk, Bianca Belair, Roman Reigns, and several more.
Those who want to watch on Netflix will be able to catch it starting at 8 pm Eastern time, and will be able to repeat the process every week. However, there is one more issue: Europe will also be losing its access to the WWE Network, noted a report from 411 Mania. According to that report, Netflix will not only host Raw, but also will have SmackDown and NXT, along with a slate of Premium Live Events (PLEs) like SummerSlam and Royal Rumble.
AI Backlash
Using artificial intelligence (AI) in any artistic endeavor these days can be considered a controversial activity. Some believe it can be a remarkable productivity boost, while others believe it is a cheat and the beginning of the end for humanity in art. Netflix found out the hard way that a lot of people cannot stomach AI with a poster for Arcane‘s second season.
Netflix pulled the poster for the second season of Arcane that fans believed had been made by AI, and Riot Games—the company behind the game on which the show is based—landed on the controversy with both feet, declaring the use of an AI-generated poster to be “disrespectful” to those who worked on the show itself.
Is Netflix Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on NFLX stock based on 24 Buys, 10 Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 87.1% rally in its share price over the past year, the average NFLX price target of $816.17 per share implies 9.1% downside risk.
