Netflix Is Ready to Prove Itself After Tyson/Paul Live Stream Issues
Movieguide® Contributor
After 90,000 people reported streaming issues during the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight last Friday, Netflix is ready to prove itself with two live NFL games next month.
“On Christmas Day, the service will air back-to-back games: the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 p.m. ET and the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Houston Texans at 4:30 p.m. ET. Beyoncé will perform at halftime of the second contest, drawing in dedicated fans and potentially causing a sudden spike in viewers, which can present technical challenges. The biggest question now is whether Netflix’s servers can perform that day, too,” Sportico reported Nov. 18.
“We feel very ready and excited for the NFL on Christmas,” Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria said on Monday.
Downdetector.com reported 90,000 users with issues during the Tyson-Paul fight. Paul saw it positively. “We crashed the site!” he yelled. However, many viewers who had an unpleasant viewing experience didn’t see the crash as a good thing.
“Longtime broadcaster Dan Patrick called the production ‘unprofessional,’ while Fox’s NFL pregame show made fun of Netflix’s frequent buffering issues on Sunday. ‘So how was everyone’s night? :),’ Peacock’s official X account posted; that service largely held up during January’s record-breaking exclusive stream of an NFL playoff game,” Sportico reported.
“@netflix should not have been given the opportunity to host something of this magnitude,” one X viewer posted. “Constant lagging and buffering. The most unenjoyable fight night we’ve ever watched.”
With 60 million viewers, ensuring a smooth viewing experience is no easy feat. Sportico notes that it’s not uncommon for these things to happen, and companies spend months in preparation to avoid such issues.
“This unprecedented scale created many technical challenges, which the launch team tackled brilliantly by prioritizing stability of the stream for the majority of viewers,” Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone said. “We don’t want to dismiss the poor experience of some members, and know we have room for improvement, but still consider this event a huge success.”
Netflix is paying $150 million for the two Christmas Day games, and the NFL has been excited about the venture as Netflix’s global reach is 300 million. Though Netflix is chiefly responsible for the streaming event, CBS Sports will manage some of the production.
READ MORE: NETFLIX AD-TIER SUBSCRIBER COUNT NEARLY DOUBLES IN FOUR MONTHS
“In some regards, the less global nature of American football compared to boxing could make managing gameday issues more straightforward, though the concentration of viewers stateside could also trigger problems,” Sportico reported. “Christmas Day traditionally sees fewer internet users; however, owners of new computers and digital devices have been known to swamp services as they download updates for their gifts or install apps and games.”
Last year, the NFL had three Christmas games broadcast on ABC, CBS and Fox. They averaged 28.7 million views.
Fox 10 reported that many fans are concerned about Netflix’s ability to deliver on Christmas.
“If the Steelers Chiefs Christmas Day game on #Netflix looks like this there are going to be tables overturned with half eaten Christmas hams all over western PA…” Randy Baumann, a Pittsburgh sports radio host, tweeted.
Netflix’s streaming issues haven’t dissuaded investors, however, and its stock went up by 2% on Monday.
Oppenheimer head of internet research Jason Helfstein estimated that the fight’s viewership was about twice what Netflix expected, which likely caused the buffering issues. He says it’s a “high quality problem [that] can be easily fixed by Christmas Day.”
READ MORE: HOW DID NETFLIX WIN THE STREAMING WARS?
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