Netflix’s Subsequent Massive Stay Occasion Is a Beyoncé NFL Halftime Present

Netflix’s newest grand live-streaming venture didn’t go off and not using a hitch this previous Friday. The big Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson rumble was such a snoozer that it virtually didn’t matter. Watchers reported lacking sections of the combat resulting from lag points. Netflix and Sasha Fierce herself, Beyoncé, mentioned they plan to make this Christmas a stay gameday spectacular if the streaming large can lastly determine the right way to make stay streaming work.

Beyoncé will headline in her hometown of Houston in the course of the NFL’s Texans v. Ravens halftime present on Dec. 25. Netflix said it ought to air because the second recreation of the day at 4:30 p.m. ET. Queen B is meant to host a spherical of songs from her latest album Cowboy Carter. The sport is a part of Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL stay broadcast, one thing the streamer has been selling for months. The streamer mentioned it would do comparable Christmas Gameday broadcasts in 2025 and 2026.

Over the weekend, Netflix wrote on its blog that 60 million of its complete 280 million international accounts logged in to observe the Tyson vs. Paul matchup on Nov. 15. The published additionally went out to roughly 6,000 bars and eating places within the U.S., in accordance with the corporate. That’s fairly important, as a few of the most-watched pay-per-view boxing occasions in historical past, just like the 2015 Mayweather vs. Pacquiao “combat of the century,” had a reported 4.6 million pay-per-view prospects.

We don’t know the way that carried out in comparison with Netflix’s earlier stay occasions, just like the 2023 Netflix Cup or the hour-delayed Love is Blind reunion broadcast from April final yr. The streaming large usually doesn’t launch viewership numbers to the general public and is reluctant to share that information with show creators. Nevertheless, Netflix mentioned the sister stay boxing occasion, Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor, attained 50 million views.

Regardless of these numbers, customers throughout the U.S. complained that they might barely watch it. Barstool Sports activities founder Dave Portnoy called it “unwatchable.” Extra folks on-line reported buffering points, freezing, lag, and poor image high quality. Some noticed their streams caught on a “99%” loading icon for minutes. Of us took to Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky to share screenshots of the circling buffering image of doom. Some customers tweeted straight at Netflix concerning the points, with one consumer asking the streamer, “Have you ever tried unplugging and replugging the router?”

Mike Tyson’s punchout in 1987 had higher video high quality than #Netflix proper now. #PaulTyson #Buffering pic.twitter.com/eB3ZwgIos2

— Kodiak (@KodiakJedi) November 16, 2024

Netflix hasn’t made any point out of those points or provided any mea culpa in its weblog publish. As a substitute it talked up how the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas performed host to greater than 72 million attendees. Nevertheless, even these dropping in to supply stay commentary struggled with technical points. As Variety reported, boxing legends Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis have been supposed to supply stay boxing commentary, as each have matched gloves with Tyson on earlier (brutal) events. Holyfield couldn’t even hear the questions being put to him.

Possibly we must also take a second to acknowledge simply how foolish and pointless the Paul vs. Tyson combat was. You had a 27-year-old influencer face off towards a 58-year-old boxer who is clearly nicely previous his prime. The combat was speculated to happen earlier this yr, however Tyson faced health issues that pressured producers to postpone it till now. Tyson can stand on a legendary (and reasonably notorious) boxing profession, however his final official bout was in 2005. Paul received on factors, however on the finish, did anyone truly care?

The entire present was only a car for Netflix to point out off its properties, for Jake and Logan Paul to advertise themselves (Netflix teamed up with the Paul-owned Most Valuable Promotions to placed on the occasion), and for celebrities to mug in entrance of the digital camera. The thousands and thousands of viewers on-line have been offered with an overproduced snoozefest, watching two individuals who shouldn’t be inside 50 yards of the ring take swings at one another.