Facepalm: Netflix’s streaming of the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match last week was considered a success by the company as it attracted a peak of 65 million viewers. What wasn’t a success, though, was the quality of the stream for a large number of people watching – or trying to watch. Now, one angry viewer has launched a class-action lawsuit against the company over the buffering issues.
The Tyson/Paul match reached a peak of 65 million households globally, with 38 million concurrent streams in the United States, according to Tudum. Netflix said it was the most streamed global sporting event ever.
However, thousands of viewers struggled to watch the eight two-minute rounds as Netflix’s servers groaned under the pressure. Even the streaming giant itself admitted to the problems.
“The boxing mega-event dominated social media, shattered records, and even had our buffering systems on the ropes,” Netflix wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
60 million households around the world tuned in live to watch Paul vs. Tyson!
The boxing mega-event dominated social media, shattered records, and even had our buffering systems on the ropes. pic.twitter.com/kA8LjfAJSk
– Netflix (@netflix) November 16, 2024
TMZ Sports reports that one of those frustrated viewers was Ronald “Blue” Denton. The Florida resident says that he and many others had to endure “legendary” problems, including no access, streaming glitches, and buffering issues when they started watching the event at around 8pm on Friday.
Down Detector, the platform that provides real-time updates on the status of websites and online services, noted that almost 85,000 viewers experienced problems with outages or streaming leading up to the fight.
Denton is suing Netflix for breach of contract. He is also asking for unspecified damages.
Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone mentioned the problems in a memo to employees. The exec said the massive number of viewers created technical challenges that were tackled “brilliantly” by the team, who prioritized stability of the stream for the majority of viewers.
“I’m sure many of you have seen the chatter in the press and on social media about the quality issues,” Stone continued (as reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman), adding: “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 CTO to employees on streaming 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.
I’m sure many of you have seen the chatter in the press and…
– Mark Gurman (@markgurman) November 16, 2024
Netflix has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
The streamer will doubtlessly be hoping its next major live sporting event won’t encounter the same problems. On Decemeber 25, the NFL Christmas Gameday Live is being broadcast on the site for all members, who can watch Kansas City Chiefs face the Pittsburgh Steelers before the Houston Texans host the Baltimore Ravens.
The second game is likely to be extremely popular, even among those who don’t like football, as Beyoncé will be taking to the field as the halftime performer. The singer will be giving the first live performance of songs from her Cowboy Carter album.