Netflix’s first foray into live combat sports had some rocky moments Friday night as a key fight streaming live before a Mike Tyson-Jake Paul main event was plagued by frequent bouts of buffering and freezing.
The streaming service, which has over 280 million subscribers in more than 190 countries, promised subscribers a broadcast of four fights that concluded with a meeting between Paul and Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. But viewers noticed issues from the beginning and flooded Netflix’s social media with comments about the glitchy stream. There was also some technical issues early in the broadcast, with Evander Holyfield’s earpiece and Jerry Jones’ microphone malfunctioning during separate interviews.
The streaming snafu Friday night wasn’t the first time Netflix has run into problems with live events. Last year, the platform promoted a live reunion as the conclusion to the fourth season of the reality dating show “Love is Blind,” but users were unable to access the stream. A recorded reunion episode went up on the platform much later than its scheduled air time, and Netflix issued an apology to viewers as well as an apology during an earnings call.
The issues come as Netflix is set to stream two NFL games on Christmas Day and WWE Raw beginning in January. The service has successfully pulled off live sporting events in the last year, including a chaotic F1-golf crossover event and a tennis match between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, but the much-hyped boxing card was much more heavily promoted and seemed to be clearly primed for more viewership.
Netflix declined comment on Friday night.
(Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images)
