Fox Corporation has announced that it is buying Roku, the market leader in streaming video distribution, in a massive $22 billion deal. Combined with FOX's Tubi, a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel, the newly formed giant instantly commands the third-largest share of U.S. television viewing, reaching over 100 million households. Inside the professional wrestling industry, promoters and executives -including beyond the large-scale entertainment properties- are looking at this situation closely. In 2023, I analyzed how independent promotions using streaming services could impact major promotions. Today, with FOX’s newly announced agreement to acquire Roku, the analysis becomes even more valid. Beyond WWE and AEW, the full impact of the FOX-Roku merger could reshape the financial and distribution models for independent wrestling promotions.
The Direct-to-Consumer Infrastructure
For decades, the biggest hurdle for independent promotions in the U.S. and international promotions looking to branch out to the U.S. market has been the high cost of traditional television clearance. Buying airtime severely limits a brand's growth, and a promoter accepting a small-scale network TV deal in order for their promotion to be seen nationally usually results in being placed in a time slot that is not optimal for generating advertising revenue. In addition, although the immediate revenue generated from traditional television carriage deal ad-breaks is typically much higher, consumption habits are changing. Roku devices power more than half of all internet-enabled smart TVs in the U.S., and according to Nielsen, Americans now spend more total time streaming on Roku-powered devices than watching cable television as a whole- 21.2% of all TV viewing takes place on the Roku platform, while while cable accounts for 20.2%. And The Roku Channel's audience is trending up 45% year-over-year.
FOX has spent nearly a decade pivoting its entire business model away from expensive scripted entertainment to intensify on live sports and news. Historically, hosting live sports required clearing prime-time blocks.
By taking full control of Roku's interface, FOX now owns a huge, direct-to-consumer infrastructure. They have basically built a digital arena with 100 million seats. If FOX decides to re-enter the live wrestling space, they no longer need to change their network television lineup. Instead, they can acquire the live broadcast rights to upper-level independent promotions or international tape libraries and stream them directly to a free, national audience. For companies looking to have a constant notable presence in America, FOX just became a premier destination.
Standardizing Global Distribution via FAST Infrastructure
The broader wrestling ecosystem relies heavily on free, ad-supported streaming television to survive and grow. Promotions outside the major promotions utilize apps to build international fanbases, fueling their diversified revenue streams.
However, smaller promotions often struggle with discovery, buried deep inside crowded app stores. The FOX-Roku deal changes this paradigm.
Because FOX plans to maintain Roku as an "open, partner-friendly platform," the merger creates a unified, highly optimized distribution pipeline with revenue-sharing infrastructure. The FAST model relies entirely on a zero upfront, advertising-revenue split. Typically, a platform like Roku or Tubi will retain roughly 40% to 50% of the commercial ad inventory to monetize its hosting tech, leaving the independent promotion with the remaining 50% to 60% of the ad slots to sell directly or fill via automated programmatic ads. This means entry into the ecosystem requires zero capital layout from the promoter- the channel only makes money when the content draws eyes.
An upper-level or international promotion natively hosted within this ecosystem would not simply be an app option; it would become part of a premium, curated free streaming powerhouse. This level of visibility would give smaller brands the kind of algorithmic placement and audience reach that used to cost millions in marketing dollars.
A New Potential Gateway for Japanese Wrestling Promotions
As I noted in my recent blog post about how Japanese wrestling promotions operate differently from American promotions, Japanese promotions use streaming and digital pay-per-views as a way to monetize their live events directly, and as streaming becomes increasingly dominant, with the number of video streamer users worldwide expected to increase to 4.6 billion by 2027, these Japanese promotions are bypassing traditional broadcast barriers entirely while still having direct accessibility that gives them an opportunity to continuously grow a global fanbase. However, this has been a difficult task due to the complexity of the Western streaming landscape.
To watch international content, a U.S. fan often has to search for an app, contend with language barriers on user interfaces, and overcome a lack of exposure- the English market is still very untapped. For example, many independent promotions in Japan do not provide information in English, which prevents them from connecting with the English markets inside and outside of Japan and hurts their visibility and streaming consumption growth. The popularity of independent wrestling has been growing in recent years, which has created a larger audience for these promotions- the English market is a part of that audience.
The FOX-Roku merger has the potential to get around these issues.
By operating a unified ecosystem that reaches over 100 million households, FOX could provide these international brands with a solution for Western distribution. Instead of fans having to seek out a platform, a Japanese promotion could leverage the open, partner-friendly nature of the combined Roku and Tubi infrastructure.
If FOX brings in people with knowledge of the Japanese pro-wrestling scene who can connect them with independent promotions in Japan that have the potential to become more popular and anchors them to a a dedicated, free, 24/7 linear FAST channel directly on the native Roku home screen, and utilizes a dedicated communications strategy, this infrastructure would offer distinct structural advantages for global expansion:
- Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Western viewers could discover international wrestling with a single click on their smart TV remote- no credit card or secondary subscription required.
- Algorithmic Discovery: Native placement would allow international content to be served directly to millions of pro-wrestling fans via Roku's newly personalized "Top Picks" and recommendation engines.
- Supporting Live Event Gate Revenues: To an extent, Japanese promotions are interested in being a constant notable presence in America. By using a free digital footprint the size of Roku's to build domestic brand awareness, international promotions would have a much better chance of overcoming the biggest challenges of touring: selling out physical venues and merchandise tables when they run live events in America.
In the post-merger environment, the FOX-Roku pipeline could offer international promotions the launchpad of a seamless, ad-supported gateway to give international exposure to a promotion that is flying under the radar, despite offering a unique and exciting alternative.
Advertising Data Advantage
Wrestling doesn't always attract the top advertisers, and independent promotions frequently struggle to secure sponsorships, having difficulty finding potential sponsors and negotiating with them. This is another area where Roku's value can come into play. With FOX's purchase of Roku, the company will buy an elite repository of first-party consumer data. Roku tracks exactly who is watching, how long they stay engaged, and what actions they take.
When this analytical engine integrates with FOX's big advertising sales infrastructure, it could completely change the monetization model for upper-level wrestling content. A promotion could show undeniable, specific digital data proving the exact value of their audience. Bridging this data gap would allow smaller promotions to command higher ad rates and land bigger sponsors that previously may have been unattainable.
A New Media Horizon?
The FOX-Roku acquisition will represent a major shift in media. By uniting the enduring power of live-focused entertainment branding with the country’s dominant connected-TV gateway, FOX has created what could become a new blueprint for sports entertainment distribution.
For the wrestling industry, this represents a major change in national distribution and advertising monetization, along with the possibility of the rules of professional wrestling media rights being rewritten.
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