Posted in: Boxing, Netflix, Opinion, Sports, TV, TV | Tagged: Jake Paul, mike tyson, netflix, opinion

Tyson/Paul: Should WWE, NFL Be Worried About Netflix Live-Streaming?

After the livestreaming meltdown that went down during Mike Tyson/Jake Paul, the NFL and WWE might need some reassuring from Netflix.

One of the biggest questions coming out of Friday night's fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul? What sucked more – the main event or Netflix's live-streaming of it? Even if you didn't check out the alleged "boxing match"-slash-PR stunt, if you were anywhere near social media, then you got to see a whole lot of folks not happy with what they weren't seeing (though most wouldn't be too happy with what they saw from Tyson and Paul, either). If social media was a drinking contest where you took a shot every time the word "buffering" was used, you would need your stomach pumped about 28.6 seconds into the event. If you're the WWE, should you be worried? The professional wrestling company is bringing WWE Raw to the streaming service this January, and there has been lots of talk about the show being able to run over and live-streamed in real-time when a show is taking place overseas. If you're the NFL, should you be worried? The streaming service is kicking off its deal with the professional football league with a live-streamed game on Christmas Day. The answer to both? Yes – because what went down on Friday night with Tyson/Paul should have them concerned that Netflix has learned much since its last live-streaming debacle.

Back in April 2023, Netflix lined up a live-streaming event that seemed like a no-brainer – a reunion special bringing back together the cast of the reality show Love Is Blind Season 4. The idea? Brilliant. The execution? Not so much. By the time the dust settled on all of the technical issues, the event would end up hitting the streaming service 19 hours after it was supposed to stream live – once again, leaving a lot of folks unhappy. During a Q1 earnings interview shortly after things went south with the reunion special, Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters addressed the matter and Netflix's commitment to live-streaming.

"We're really sorry to disappoint so many people. We didn't meet the standard that we expect [from] ourselves: to serve our members and just be clear from a technical perspective. We've got the infrastructure. We had just a bug that we introduced, actually, when we implemented some changes to try to improve live-streaming performance after the last live broadcast, Chris Rock ['Selective Outrage'] in March [2023]. We just didn't see this bug in internal testing because it only became apparent once we put multiple systems interacting with each other under the load of millions of people trying to watch 'Love Is Blind,'" Peters explained. "We hate when these things happen, but we'll learn from it and will get better. We do have the fundamental infrastructure that we need. The good news is that ultimately 6.5 million viewers watched and enjoyed the show."

"So a reunion show that's going to generate news and buzz, it really does play better live when people can join together. Certainly, the Chris Rock standup show played out so well because there was so much anticipation for what he was going to say in that set. So when we have the opportunity to do projects like that, we like the fact we have the option to do it," Sarandos added. "As Greg said, we were super disappointed to not be able to come across with the live product for everyone who wanted it on the 'Love Is Blind' reunion. But we're super thrilled people love the show. It does point to the kind of love for that brand, and for the growing love for those unscripted brands on Netflix. Some of them will be live. Those results-oriented shows do play out a little bit better live, and they do generate a lot of conversation. But keep in mind, like Chris Rock, about 90% of the viewing happened after, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a big event."

Here's the problem: that was from April 2023, a little more than 1 1/2 years ago. Based on what went down on Friday night with Tyson/Paul, you can't help but wonder what was learned (nor not learned) from the Love Is Blind meltdown. If the argument last year was a matter of not anticipating just how many people would be tuning in, can they still claim that for a fight that the streamer actively promoted over the past several months, between two fighters with strong presences on the pop culture landscape? I don't think anyone was asking for perfection by any means – you're never going to get that when you go live – but it should be a serious concern that a top streaming service appears to have taken a step back with its live-streaming skills. So if we were the WWE or NFL, we might want to have a meeting on Monday with Netflix for some serious reassuring.

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