Mike Tyson and Jake Paul recently fought each other on Netflix this past Friday, marking the first time the streaming platform aired a live broadcast of a sports event. Quickly sweeping over social media with announcers referring to it as “the fight of the century,” it is safe to say that the match was a momentous occasion for Netflix. According to The Los Angeles Times, the fight garnered views from around 60 million households.
This huge number bodes well for the future of similar events. While it remains unseen if Netflix will be able to recreate the blowout success of this fight, the results speak for themselves. Viewers should expect to see similar events in the future.
However, a concern that comes along with this is the poor video quality that was present during the fight. Many complained about the grainy quality of the broadcast, and this was something that I experienced firsthand. Throughout the match, the stream would periodically stop to load. When it wasn’t loading, it often appeared overly pixelated.
On the positive side, Netflix is set to become the home of the WWE weekly show “Monday Night Raw,” which will begin airing on the streaming platform in early January of next year. Even if there are some problems that emerged with the Tyson vs. Paul fight, things look good for the future of fighting on Netflix.