Netflix Inc.’s foray into live sports streaming with the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul attracted a huge global audience, peaking at 65 million viewers, but leading to thousands of complaints from viewers about connection problems and frozen screens.
“We crashed the website,” said 27-year-old Paul after claiming victory over 58-year-old Tyson. “This is the biggest event.”
In an internal company memo obtained by Bloomberg News, Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone said the fight drew a maximum of 65 million concurrent viewers, 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 highly anticipated showdown. More than 100,000 users reported network issues on the Downdetector website throughout the livestream, commenting on slow buffering and network issues. Even boxer Evander Holyfield had difficulty understanding the show’s host 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 push to boost its fledgling advertising business. Netflix has been investing in its live event features for mega-spectacles like Boxing Match after previous livestreaming missteps like Boxing Match Love is blind Reunion debacle. The platform released a teaser for upcoming NFL games on Christmas Day during Friday’s fight.
The match between former heavyweight champion Tyson and YouTuber-boxer Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas failed to live up to the hype and was described as a lackluster bout by critics. 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 match expected to be a major driver of subscriptions for Netflix. There is potential for a total of 10 million gains in the fourth quarter, 11% above consensus, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
Before the game, users on social media site X complained that they couldn’t stream the event, and one sarcastically thanked Netflix for “taking us back to the glory days of dial-up internet.”
“Seriously? You didn’t make sure you didn’t have server problems?” A user named TheYounger posted in response to a post from Netflix promoting the fight.