While many might have been disappointed by the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, the event itself seems to have been a smash hit. Netflix, the streaming platform broadcasting the event live, has revealed the viewership numbers from the event, which previous reports suggested would have been close to a whopping 250 million.

However, Netflix’s reported numbers are nowhere close to touching the 250 million mark. The night’s main card, Paul vs. Tyson, saw ‘The Problem Child’ defeat the former heavyweight champion via a unanimous decision after eight rounds of action. Meanwhile, Katie Taylor clinched a controversial unanimous decision victory against Amanda Serrano in the co-main event. 

According to Netflix, the Paul vs. Tyson heavyweight boxing match was viewed by an estimated 60 million households worldwide. The viewership peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, and more details will be revealed in the coming days. It’s also worth mentioning that more than 50 million homes tuned in to watch the co-main event rematch between Serrano and Taylor.

Interestingly, the streaming giant had predicted the Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor rematch would “likely be the most watched professional women’s sporting event in US history” once the final numbers are confirmed. Netflix has also revealed Friday night’s event had “the biggest boxing gate outside of Las Vegas in US history.”

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Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson gate revenue has reportedly surpassed $18 million, which the streaming giant said is “double the previous Texas gate record for combat sports in both boxing and MMA, topping Canelo Alvarez’s record of $9 million.” Despite these impressive numbers from the event, it wasn’t without its flaws. And boy, were the flaws huge!

Netflix faces backlash for Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson event

Netflix’s foray into live sports with the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight being the first was in some ways a disaster. This seems to have garnered the streaming giant a whole lot of backlash. Fans flooded social media, especially X, with complaints about constant buffering and video quality issues, which made the stream unwatchable. 

Prominent voices from the combat world and elsewhere voiced their issues, with hashtags like “#NetflixCrash” trending throughout the night. The issues have raised some serious concerns among fans as the streaming giant gets ready to broadcast NFL games and WWE’s Raw slated to debut on the platform soon.

That said, it appears despite forcing people to watch the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight in poor quality on Friday night, and the main event itself being way less than satisfactory, Netflix has managed to pull off huge numbers thanks to Paul and Tyson’s star power. However, whether the trend continues for the streaming platform is yet to be seen. What do you think about the 60 million live viewership numbers?