Netflix struggled through Tyson vs Paul – Beyoncé was able to deliver a knockout punch
If you watched the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul match on Netflix last week, you’re familiar with disappointment. I don’t mean the fight. Certainly, that was a snoozefest, preceded by some truly compelling undercard fights. No, the disappointment was with Netflix, one of the best streaming services, which serves hundreds of millions of people every day, but somehow succumbed to 65 million concurrent viewers with deeply pixelated action, a frustrating spinning wheel, and sometimes no video service at all .
For those who don’t know, Netflix took a stab at live sports last Friday, airing a full slate of professional-level fights over three hours, culminating in the highly anticipated fight between 26-year-old Paul and 58-year-old former champion. Tyson. The fight went as you would expect between someone in the prime of his youth and a boxer who retired almost twenty years ago. However, during the evening, Netflix became extremely unstable. I watched a lot of the action and experienced numerous glitches, as well as a fair number of videos that looked like images from Mike Tysons 1987 PunchOut! game for NES. Sometimes the throughput turned into dial-up at best.
I describe my experience, but I was far from alone. Social media was flooded with reports, and Downdetector, the site and service performance tracking service, reported tens of thousands of service issues. Reuters called it a “glitch.”
Netflix has not yet publicly commented on the performance issues, but has touted and claimed the ratings 60 million households watched the Tyson vs. Paul match. Even some undercards, like the women’s boxing rematch between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor, grossed 50 million. I can confirm that the video performance during that riveting match was at least as bad as what I experienced in the title match.
Things aren’t looking good for a streaming platform that will aggressively enter the live sporting events space with the WWE and the N.F.L. And it could be quite alarming for Beyoncé fans, who are legion.
The music icon just signed on to perform as the halftime show on Christmas Day for Netflix’s first NFL game between the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens.
A live football match at Christmas is sure to attract millions of viewers. It might not be Tyson vs. Paul levels, at least not until Beyoncé takes the stage. Many people who don’t care about the sport of pigskin will tune in to see Beyoncé’s first live performance of songs from her Grammy-nominated country album, Cowboy Carter.
If Netflix thinks boxing fans are vocal, wait until they hear the Beyhive.
However, it’s possible that Netflix has learned a thing or two from the Tyson-Paul fight and is now strengthening its backbone ahead of this December 25 mega-event. Maybe, but without another similar live event in between, how will Netflix test an upgraded system? The way I see it, Netflix is flying without a net.
If Netflix wants to avoid Beyonce and her fans, it would be better off deploying some servers and as much backbone support as possible – maybe 16 carriages value – as it can yield. Netflix needs to understand that this is not the case Just for fun. It won’t be enough for Netflix to respond.”Yes yesor play Texas Hold’em with resources. No crying Alligator tears that you couldn’t get it done. This is not your Smoke hourNetflix. It’s essentially your Super Bowl, so do everything you can so you can be Live the dream with Beyoncé and her fans.
