NFL fans worry Netflix’s bad Tyson vs. Paul stream means it can’t handle football
Getty Images for Netflix © 2024
Netflix’s livestream of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match was a mess. I’m not talking about the bout itself — although people had their qualms with that, too — it’s the livestream, which people across the internet complained was plagued by buffering, unstable, and unwatchable muddiness. That doesn’t bode well for Netflix’s live sports ambitions, especially its upcoming Christmas Day NFL games.
I had the same experience, having tuned in a few minutes before Paul showed up in the back of a lowrider truck. For the vast majority of the 8-round match, I had to lean heavily on my brain’s ability to construct a cohesive picture from very little information to have an idea of what was going on. The X post below was very much what the fight looked like for me, and there are plenty of others like it.
Netflix is trash. #cancelnetflix #NetflixFight pic.twitter.com/m9aToMl5vh— rachel (@RacheyForReals) November 16, 2024
Jerry Jones saying Netflix is a huge part of the NFL’s future into a mic that doesn’t work and then less than a minute later the stream goes down.— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) November 16, 2024
Netflix didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment, and hasn’t said how many people tuned in last night, but it was available to all of the streaming giant’s 283 million subscribers.
Fans, like those posting below, worry that last night’s quality issues don’t bode well for its upcoming broadcasts of WWE Raw, which 1.4 million people watch every week, nor for its NFL matchups on Christmas Day, one of which will feature this year’s Superbowl winner, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs drew almost 30 million viewers on Christmas Day last year and have topped NFL broadcast ratings with similar numbers throughout this season.
The real losers of last nights #PaulVsTyson fight was WWE and NFL. Netflix better get their shit together or they’re gunna lose millions for those companies and those companies will NOT be happy.— Robert Rubin-Beman (@ultimatetorah) November 16, 2024
If you skipped Tyson-Paul, you made the right decision.
But you won’t be prepared for the ridiculous frustration on the way with Christmas NFL on Netflix— Thad Brown (@thadbrown7.bsky.social) 2024-11-16T05:31:29.096Z
Will Netflix pull off its December NFL streams as well as Peacock did the Superbowl this year? Or will it be more like YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket stream in late December last year? We’ll see, but after last night, it seems like the company needs to fix some things.
Getty Images for Netflix © 2024
Netflix’s livestream of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match was a mess. I’m not talking about the bout itself — although people had their qualms with that, too — it’s the livestream, which people across the internet complained was plagued by buffering, unstable, and unwatchable muddiness. That doesn’t bode well for Netflix’s live sports ambitions, especially its upcoming Christmas Day NFL games.
I had the same experience, having tuned in a few minutes before Paul showed up in the back of a lowrider truck. For the vast majority of the 8-round match, I had to lean heavily on my brain’s ability to construct a cohesive picture from very little information to have an idea of what was going on. The X post below was very much what the fight looked like for me, and there are plenty of others like it.
Netflix is trash. #cancelnetflix #NetflixFight pic.twitter.com/m9aToMl5vh
— rachel (@RacheyForReals) November 16, 2024
Jerry Jones saying Netflix is a huge part of the NFL’s future into a mic that doesn’t work and then less than a minute later the stream goes down.
— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) November 16, 2024
Netflix didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment, and hasn’t said how many people tuned in last night, but it was available to all of the streaming giant’s 283 million subscribers.
Fans, like those posting below, worry that last night’s quality issues don’t bode well for its upcoming broadcasts of WWE Raw, which 1.4 million people watch every week, nor for its NFL matchups on Christmas Day, one of which will feature this year’s Superbowl winner, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs drew almost 30 million viewers on Christmas Day last year and have topped NFL broadcast ratings with similar numbers throughout this season.
The real losers of last nights #PaulVsTyson fight was WWE and NFL. Netflix better get their shit together or they’re gunna lose millions for those companies and those companies will NOT be happy.
— Robert Rubin-Beman (@ultimatetorah) November 16, 2024
If you skipped Tyson-Paul, you made the right decision.
But you won’t be prepared for the ridiculous frustration on the way with Christmas NFL on Netflix
— Thad Brown (@thadbrown7.bsky.social) 2024-11-16T05:31:29.096Z
Will Netflix pull off its December NFL streams as well as Peacock did the Superbowl this year? Or will it be more like YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket stream in late December last year? We’ll see, but after last night, it seems like the company needs to fix some things.