Netflix (NFLX) just took an ambitious leap into the world of live streaming on Nov. 15, but the move took an unexpected turn, which is sparking major concern among consumers.
The streaming service hosted the highly anticipated Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match, which was made exclusively available for subscribers to stream live on its platform.
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Anticipation over the fight has been brewing over the past few months as fans haven’t seen Tyson in a professional boxing match in over 19 years.
Related: Netflix's Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight tests live sports strategy
Paul also previously taunted the boxing legend, claiming that he would knock him out cold in the ring, despite only launching his boxing career six years ago, compared to Tyson’s 39 decorated years of experience.
Netflix's Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul stream goes south
The fight, which Paul won, attracted a record-breaking live audience of 60 million on Netflix, but the popularity negatively affected fans who tuned into the stream.
During the live event, many frustrated Netflix users took to social media to claim that the stream suffered from significant buffering issues, making it difficult to watch the fight live.
At one point, the stream even froze during a camera shot of Mike Tyson’s bare butt cheeks, which many users claimed represented the poor quality of the stream.
Related: How Mike Tyson went from a net worth of $300 million to broke
On the night of the fight, roughly 100,000 Netflix users reported outages on the platform, according to Downdetector.com.
The botched stream not only outraged consumers who demanded refunds, but it also raised concerns over Netflix’s ability to successfully host future live WWE and NFL events on its platforms after announcing partnerships with both entities earlier this year.
So this is why I haven't had netflix in forever. @jakepaul tell these ppl to fix this bruh. It's literally unwatchable. Constant buffering and when its not buffering i can literally count the pixels. I want a refund asap. #PaulVsTyson
— The_Savage_ (@SMOKE__005) November 16, 2024
In response to the technical mishaps, Netflix joked in an Instagram post that the "boxing mega-event" had its "buffering systems on the ropes."
Radio personality Howard Stern even commented on the backlash during his radio show on Monday. He claimed there would be “hell to pay” if Netflix didn’t fix its tech issues before it broadcasts future NFL games.
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“People are pissed,” said Stern on his show. “You f-ck people’s football, there is hell to pay. You better not. I don’t know how this stuff works, but you’ve got to make sure it works.”
In January, Netflix announced that it landed a $5 billion 10-year deal with WWE, making the streaming platform the new home of “Monday Night Raw,” starting in January 2025.
“By combining our reach, recommendations, and fandom with WWE, we’ll be able to deliver more joy and value for their audiences and our members,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria in a Jan. 23 press release.
Related: Mike Tyson’s net worth after Jake Paul fight
A few months later, Netflix also revealed that it signed a three-year deal to broadcast NFL games on Christmas Day.
It even recently announced that Beyoncé will be the halftime performer during NFL Christmas Gameday, which is streaming exclusively on Netflix on Dec. 25. Her performance will take place during the Baltimore-Texas game, which will most likely draw in a large live audience.
Netflix has had similar live steaming problems in the past
Unsurprisingly, consumers are questioning Netflix’s ability to host future live events since this is not the first time the company has botched one on its platform.
In 2023, Netflix announced that it would be streaming the Season 4 reunion of “Love is Blind” live on its platform on April 16, 2023, but due to technical difficulties, that failed to happen. The stream instead was made available on the platform 19 hours after it was supposed to debut live, which angered many fans.
During an earnings presentation in April 2023, Netflix Co-CEO Theodore Sarandos apologized for the error, claiming it resulted from a technical “bug.”
“We’ve got the infrastructure,” said Sarandos. “We had just a bug that we introduced, actually, when we implemented some changes to try to improve live-streaming performance after the last live broadcast, Chris Rock (‘Selective Outrage’ comedy special) in March. We just didn’t see this bug in internal testing because it only became apparent once we put multiple systems interacting with each other under the load of millions of people trying to watch ‘Love Is Blind.'”
Despite the previous mishap, Sarandos claimed during an earnings call on Oct. 17 that the company has high hopes that its future endeavors in live streaming will help boost engagement on the platform.
“We're really excited that we're going to be capturing even more of the excitement that comes when the whole world gets together to watch something, and that's (a) really fun part of live,” said Sarandos. “The contributor to growing engagement is going to be across the board on our scripted and unscripted or documentary programming, all the kind of things that people love, including now the addition of some live hours.”
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