Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive of Netflix, said the massive influx of viewers to watch the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was a success, despite technical glitches that disrupted the live broadcast.
“We hate to disappoint our members, even for a moment,” Sarandos said at the UBS Global Media & Communications conference in New York. “That evening, we solicited our own technology as well as that of every Internet service provider around the world. We actually tested the limits of the Internet,” he added.
During the highly anticipated evening of the Paul-Tyson fight on November 15, Netflix customers expressed their dissatisfaction on social networks due to cuts in their video feed. Netflix is currently the subject of a class action lawsuit filed by a customer who denounced the event as “unliveable” due to technical problems. In total, the event, which included two underlying bouts, lasted over 5.5 hours.
Sarandos asserted that “we have the brightest engineers on the planet” who “question themselves” when technical problems arise.
However, he touted the event’s results despite the glitches: The Tyson-Paul match drew an estimated average live audience of 108 million worldwide, making it “the most widely broadcast sporting event in the world.” The peak was reached with 65 million simultaneous streams, including 38 million in the United States.
“That’s a Super Bowl-like audience that we were able to attract,” Sarandos said, saying it was the largest live audience for a single event outside of the Super Bowl since the 1980s .
By April 2023, Netflix had already hosted its first major live event, a “Love Is Blind” reunion, which was delayed due to technical issues and only became available on the platform 19 hours after the scheduled broadcast. “We literally failed” during the “Love Is Blind” event, Sarandos said, adding that the broadcast of the Paul-Tyson fight represented “a positive progression in a year and a half.”
On Christmas Day, Netflix plans to live stream two NFL games for the first time (Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans). Additionally, starting in January, Netflix will stream WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” weekly as part of a 10-year, multibillion-dollar deal.
Regarding future NFL broadcasts, Sarandos did not specifically discuss Netflix’s technical preparation. However, he mentioned that in addition to these two “beautiful matches”, the event will include Beyoncé’s halftime show during the Texans-Ravens game. The superstar’s performance and the festive programming surrounding it will, according to Sarandos, be “more important” than the matches themselves.
Sarandos also reiterated that for Netflix, the economics of acquiring streaming rights to full sports seasons are not viable. However, he noted that sports leagues want to reach young and international audiences, which makes Netflix an attractive partner for tailor-made events, like NFL Christmas games.
During his UBS session, Sarandos praised the final season of “Stranger Things,” which will conclude with season 5 scheduled for next year. “The final episode of ‘Stranger Things’ is incredible,” he said. He also mentioned the third and final season of “Squid Game”, scheduled for 2025, as well as the return of the hit series “Wednesday”. Sarandos expressed excitement for next year’s release of Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of “Frankenstein,” starring Jacob Elordi as the monster and Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein.
Netflix, the industry leader in video-on-demand, reported third-quarter 2024 results that beat Wall Street expectations, attracting 5.1 million global subscribers to reach 282.72 million at the end of September. The company has forecast revenue of $43 billion to $44 billion in 2025, which would represent growth of 11 percent to 13 percent. In addition, Netflix is targeting an operating margin of 28% in 2025, compared to 27% forecast for 2024.
Although Netflix provides revenue and margin forecasts for 2025, it will no longer regularly communicate subscriber figures from the first quarter of 2025 (having already stopped providing quarterly forecasts), these indicators having been particularly followed by analysts . This is because other metrics such as engagement and profitability better reflect its overall health, according to the company.
It’s fascinating to watch how Netflix navigates technical challenges while captivating global audiences with live events. The incident during the Jake Paul – Mike Tyson fight illustrates not only the technological challenges of broadcasting, but also the public’s growing appetite for live content. In an era where real-time interaction becomes essential, streaming platforms must evolve with agility to meet this demand. For Netflix, the important thing will not only be solving technical problems, but also considering how these moments create shared cultural experiences that will strengthen their position in an increasingly competitive market.
