Netflix found hope in a technically glitchy live stream of the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight on Friday.
The Los Gatos, California-based streaming giant said 60 million households watched the fight between Paul, a fighter who found fame on YouTube, and Tyson, the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion. This figure is more than 20% of the 283 million subscribers worldwide.
Paul, 27, won by unanimous decision in an eight-round fight held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. But the fight was far from a boxing masterpiece.
Tyson came out aggressive in the first two rounds but barely moved in the second half. Towards the end of the fight, Paul appeared to block the attack.
The co-main event, which featured women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor’s victory over Amanda Serrano, was also watched by nearly 50 million households. Netflix said the match will likely be the most-watched women’s professional sporting event in U.S. history.
Despite the massive audience, Netflix’s first sanctioned boxing event was not an ideal viewing experience as consumers took to social media to complain about feed loss and buffering.
Femi Abebefe, a host on the BetQL radio network, wrote on
DownDetector, which tracks internet outages, received thousands of reports on Friday of people experiencing problems streaming Netflix.
After the fight, the following post was posted by Netflix’s X account on Comcast’s streaming service Peacock: “So how was everyone’s night? :)” Peacock has successfully live streamed NFL games and the Olympics.
A Netflix representative had no comment on technical issues.
Netflix is planning another major live streaming event for Christmas, when the streamer plans to carry two NFL games.
Netflix is using live events to captivate the public as a way to attract the attention of advertisers. The company’s ad-supported tier is seen as a path to increasing revenue as subscriber growth slows.
