The Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight was a financial success, drawing a big live crowd and millions of viewers. But its technical issues – primarily buffering – have drawn concerns over whether the streamer can handle its next huge audience for a live event.
Netflix is set for its first NFL doubleheader on Christmas, with the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers opening and the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans closing the Wednesday games. Both games are likely to have huge playoffs implications, raising the stakes for fans of the teams.
The Tyson-Fury fight was the first Netflix live sporting event, but not its first live presentation. In April 2023, Netflix hosted a “Love Is Blind” reunion that also had many snags. After a 90-minute delay, that show was taped and available the next day.
The major issues were somewhat shocking, given the long lead time Netflix had to prepare for the event. Other streamers have handled big audiences with minimal disruption, including NFL games on Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football,” and Peacock, which airs “Sunday Night Football. ”
The service has 280 million accounts spread over 190 countries. The DownDetector.com website, which tracks service outages, reported just under 100,000 complaints registered about Netflix around the start of the main event.
“This is a disaster for Netflix,” OutKick’s Clay Travis tweeted. “They have no chance of successfully airing a Chiefs-Steelers Christmas Day NFL game based on this performance.”
Despite the despair and complaints, fans had some fun mocking the livestream horror show.
