Paul/Tyson Streamed 60 MIllion Homes, Buffering and All (original) (raw)

The Jake Paul/Mike Tyson event on Netflix may have been a technical disaster, but the streaming platform and fight promoters are calling it a viewership and financial success.

Nearly a day after the biggest boxing event outside of Las Vegas in U.S. history, Most Valuable Promotions (Paul’s promotional outfit) announced that 60 million households around the world watched the YouTuber-turned-pugilist win a unanimous decision over the 58-year-old Tyson, the former two-time heavyweight champion of the world. According to MVP and Netflix, the match peaked with 65 million concurrent global streams, though at which point of the fight it occurred was not disclosed.

Viewership figures are based on Netflix overnight data. The full totals for Paul-Tyson will be available in the coming days.

MVP and Netflix said that nearly 50 million households worldwide tuned in for the co-main event in which Katie Taylor eked out another controversial decision over Amanda Serrano to retain her lightweight championship in the most anticipated rematch in women’s boxing history.

Taylor and Serrano’s first bout took place in December 2022 at a sold-out Madison Square Garden, the first women’s fight to be a main event in a fight card at the prestigious New York arena. The bout was then the most watched in women’s boxing history as 1.5 million subscribers streamed it on DAZN, a sports streamer that only features combat sports in the U.S. despite its wider global footprint.

If anything, the Paul/Tyson card was more defined by technical glitches than in-ring action. Netflix built itself as a seemingly endless on-demand digital library and not as a multiplexer with a reliable infrastructure for live broadcasting. Paul/Tyson became the sports version of Netflix’s prior faux pas with the Love is Blind reunion show back in 2023.

Despite widespread frustration from subscribers, Netflix provided no comment about the glitches.

The gate receipts for the event, which took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas., totaled $18 million, doubling the previous record for combat sports at the venue. MVP said it was the biggest gate ever for a boxing card outside of Las Vegas. Over 72,000 fans were in attendance for the event, which was originally scheduled for July 20 but was postponed due to Tyson suffering from a stomach ulcer during training.