The highly publicized fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was a victim of its own success last Friday. Netflix, still inexperienced in live broadcasting, experienced technical problems all evening. Nevertheless, this event proves the growing interest of online viewing giants in sport, which is a game-changer for traditional broadcasters.
Published at 8:00 a.m.
Netflix has long stayed away from sports. It wasn’t until November 2023 that the global streaming leader presented its first live event, the Netflix Cup, a golf competition between F1 drivers and professional golfers.
The boxing fight between social media star Jake Paul and former world champion Mike Tyson, two characters whose sulphurous reputations are well established, was the first event of this magnitude to be broadcast on Netflix. The platform’s servers did not hold up. On social networks, several subscribers complained that the connection was shaky. The image quality was also not always optimal.
“We do not want to minimize the bad experience that some subscribers have had, and we know that there is room for improvement, but we still consider this event to be a huge success,” the company subsequently reacted. Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone in a memo to employees that Bloomberg news agency obtained.
Sixty million homes
The Californian company confirms that the record influx on the platform is the cause of these technical problems. According to Netflix, more than 60 million households around the world tuned in live to watch Jake Paul, 27, deliver a solid beating to Mike Tyson, more than 30 years his senior.
Despite the problems, the fact remains that Netflix won its bet. This event was a big test for the platform, which wants to broadcast more sport in the coming years. And 60 million households, knowing that in a single household there were often several people watching at the same time, that’s huge.
Benoit Séguin, full professor at the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa
In the coming months, the sports marketing teacher expects to see other major sports competitions land on Netflix, as well as on other major online platforms.
“This means that there is more and more competition for the broadcast of major sporting events. The prices for obtaining the rights have become exorbitant. This is worrying for traditional broadcasters, like Bell, Quebecor or Rogers, who are already having difficulty keeping up,” summarizes Mr. Séguin, recalling that the two French-speaking sports channels, TVA Sports and RDS, are losing money. Currently.
Keep in touch
Netflix will broadcast two NFL games during the holiday season for the first time in its history. Prime Video is already the official broadcaster of Thursday matches in the National Football League. In soccer, Apple TV entered into an exclusive agreement with MLS in 2022.
During the last season, around twenty matches played by CF Montreal were only offered online. François Messier, who until recently headed -’s sports department, doubts that this will be to the club’s advantage.
Are the Quebec media talking about CF Montreal as much as before since it was on Apple TV? I’m not sure. The reality is that the major professional leagues have every interest in maintaining contact with traditional broadcasters so that people continue to talk about their sport.
François Messier, former director of the sports department at -
François Messier, who also worked for RDS, recognizes that digital platforms are expected to play a more important role in the industry in the coming years. But he doesn’t believe they will completely replace traditional broadcasters.
“What we risk seeing is large organizations coming to agreements with both traditional broadcasters and platforms to reach as many people as possible. For example, for the Olympics, - was the official broadcaster with RDS until this year. It would not be surprising if in the future it was - and a platform. I know that these are things that are discussed,” said this former general director of sports at -.
