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Netflix’s push into streaming live events was put to its biggest test on Friday with the boxing match-up between former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, a YouTube influencer who became a professional fighter in 2020.
The bout, which was won by Paul, 27, who beat Tyson, 58, on points, was available to all of Netflix’s 280mn subscribers at no extra charge, a departure from the expensive pay-per-view or premium TV packages that have long been associated with professional boxing.
Boxing used to be a lucrative business for the pay-TV networks HBO and Showtime, but both exited the sport as its popularity declined.
For Netflix, the Tyson-Paul bout was aimed at attracting new subscribers — particularly to its advertising-supported service, analysts say. The company’s ad tier, launched in late 2022, has about 70mn subscribers.
The boxing “megaevent . . . should boost audience engagement and attract advertising-tier subscribers, viewers and dollars”, analysts at JPMorgan said.
On social media, some fans complained about buffering problems during the fight. The website Down Detector reported that more than 84,000 viewers reported problems.
The unusual bout featuring Tyson, the fiercest and most controversial boxer of his generation, and Paul, a brash social media star, appeared to be part of a strategy to target younger male viewers. In January, Netflix signed a $5bn, 10-year deal with World Wrestling Entertainment’s weekly Raw programme in the US, by far the group’s biggest foray into streaming live events.
Netflix has had success with what it calls “sports-adjacent” programming, including documentaries such as Formula 1: Drive to Survive and Beckham. But it is starting to feature more live sporting events, including a planned National Football League game on Christmas Day — prompting speculation on Wall Street that it plans to eventually secure a rights deal with a major sports league.
Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive, has tried to damp the speculation, saying Netflix does not want to enter a typical sports rights deal in which most of the financial benefit goes to a league.
“Where we can really differentiate and outcompete everybody is in the storytelling of sports, the drama of sports,” Sarandos said on an earnings call earlier this year.
Netflix’s position contrasts with its streaming rivals, including Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Google’s YouTube, which gobbled up sports professional sports rights — Amazon has NFL’s Thursday Night Football, Apple hosts Major League Baseball’s Friday Night Baseball and YouTube is the home of the NFL’s Sunday Ticket roster of games. But analysts at Morgan Stanley have said they expect Netflix to eventually enter the competition for sports rights as traditional TV networks decline and existing deals with major US sports leagues expire by 2030.
Netflix began experimenting with live programming last year with a comedy special by Chris Rock, which faced technical problems. It has also live-streamed the SAG awards and a “roast” of retired American football star Tom Brady.
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