Live sport, a new playground for Netflix

The event took place in a stadium in Texas in front of 72,000 people, broadcast not on a sports channel, nor on a specialized platform, but on… Netflix. Among the documentaries, films, series and other content from the video-on-demand champion. Despite the bugs, causing an outpouring of angry “hashtags” on the networks: the meeting still brought together 65 million households live, at peak audience time!

After eight rounds of 2 minutes unanimously considered to be draws: it was Jake Paul, 27 years old, who won against the legend Tyson, 58 years old, absent from the rings for 19 years… An uninteresting confrontation, where Tyson seems to have gone into extra mode or NPC (non-player character) before the final bell. But it doesn’t matter, that’s not what there was to see! Moreover, Jake Paul, who boasted of having crashed Netflix with 120 million viewers (we don’t know where this figure comes from) had announced it. “Fuck the haters, history is in the making”released on social networks on the eve of the fight….

So, what is there to see historically?

Mike Tyson’s bare butt that appeared in live pre-match interviews eventually. But above all it was a moment of change for sport: we cannot really talk about combat, but about joint communication within the framework of a sporting spectacle. With “performers” like Tyson and Paul, who leave with $40 million in their pocket.

For Jake Paul, a Trumpist influencer with 22 million YouTube subscribers and 27 million on Instagram, convicted for advertising cryptocurrencies without informing his audience, it’s also good for business! Launched into boxing in 2018 as a challenger, he also set up his fight promotion company and an online betting company.

Finally, for Netflix, it’s a way to position itself a little more in the field of sports entertainment and live sport in general, before the broadcast of two live American football matches at Christmas, then wrestling at the start of the 2025 school year!