The Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight draws 65 million viewers at its peak

On By Littum

Netflix Inc.’s foray into live sports streaming with the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match drew a massive global audience, peaking at 65 million viewers, but resulted in thousands of complaints from viewers about connection problems and frozen screens.

“We crashed the place,” said Paul, 27, after claiming victory over 58-year-old Tyson. “This is the biggest event.”

In an internal company memo seen by Bloomberg News, Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone said the game drew a maximum of 65 million viewers at any one time, rivaling some of the most-watched sporting events.

Some of those viewers took to social media to vent their frustration over glitches in streaming the much-anticipated showdown. More than 100,000 users reported network issues on the Downdetector website throughout the live streaming, commenting on slow buffering and network issues. Even boxer Evander Holyfield struggled to hear the host of the show when asked about his infamous fight with Tyson.

Netflix declined to comment on the overall outcome of the event.

The company’s biggest live-streaming event is part of its ambition to boost its fledgling advertising business. Netflix has invested in its live event capabilities for mega spectacles like the boxing match after previous live streaming missteps such as Love is blind reunion debacle. The platform ran a teaser for upcoming NFL games on Christmas Day during Friday’s game.

The fight between former heavyweight champion Tyson and Youtuber-turned-boxer Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas fell short of the hype, with critics calling it a lackluster fight. The judges unanimously decided that Paul won the fight after eight rounds without a knockout.

Tyson came out of retirement to face Paul, with the fight expected to be a major driver of Netflix subscriptions. There is a potential for 10 million gains overall in the fourth quarter, 11% ahead of consensus, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Before the match, users on social media X complained about not being able to stream the event, with one sarcastically thanking Netflix for “bringing us back to the glory days of dial-up internet.”

“Seriously? You didn’t make sure you wouldn’t have server problems?” a user named TheYounger wrote in response to a Netflix post promoting the match.

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