Jake Paul and Mike Tyson‘s heavyweight boxing match was viewed by an estimated 60 million households globally, peaking at 65 million “concurrent streams,” according to data shared by Netflix.
More data will be released in the coming days, including total viewer numbers, the streamer said. Also, Netflix said 50 million households globally tuned in live for the co-main event of Serrano vs. Taylor 2, which the streamer predicted would “likely be the most watched professional women’s sporting event in US history” once final results are tabulated.
As for the main card, after eight rounds, Paul, 27, claimed victory over former world heavyweight champion Tyson, 58, in a unanimous decision.
Per Netflix, Paul vs. Tyson and Taylor vs. Serrano 2 repped “the biggest boxing gate outside of Las Vegas in US history,” as the Paul vs. Tyson gate has surpassed $18 million, “double the previous Texas gate record for combat sports in both boxing and MMA, topping Canelo Álvarez’s record of $9 million.”
Aside from Paul vs. Tyson, the main card also featured a highly-praised rematch between undisputed super lightweight champion Katie Taylor and unified featherweight champion Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano, which saw Taylor once again defeat Serrano by a controversial unanimous decision. Taylor previously won the initial bout between the two via a split decision. Other fights included one between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos for the WBC welterweight world title that ended in a split draw, and Neeraj Goyat defeating Whindersson Nunes via unanimous decision.
The event was the latest in Netflix’s push into live events, following stand up specials from Chris Rock and Joe Rogan, golf tournament The Netflix Cup and the tennis event The Netflix Slam, and a “Love Is Blind” Season 4 reunion special among others. Next up, the streamer will air two live NFL games on Christmas Day 2024, while WWE’s flagship weekly live show “Raw” is moving to Netflix in January.
Exact comparisons of Paul vs. Tyson to other Netflix live events in terms of viewership is difficult, as Netflix does not typically release regular ratings information beyond their weekly Global Top 10 lists.
However, it was previously reported that Rogan’s special was on the English language TV Global Top 10 list for two weeks, hitting 2.5 million views in its first week and 2.9 million in its second before dropping off the list. Likewise, Rock’s special appeared on the Global Top 10 chart for one week, but this was before Netflix began reporting views as opposed to just hours viewed. Rock’s special drew 17.79 million hours viewed in that week. With a run time of 69 minutes or 1.15 hours, and Netflix defining a view as total hours viewed divided by total runtime (in hours), that comes out to approximately 15.47 million views. Other events, like the “Love Is Blind” live reunion, did not make the Global Top 10 list nor the US Top 10 list.
The Paul-Tyson Friday fight card, the largest live event Netflix has produced to date, was plagued by technical issues as it went on, with many users complaining of lagging and buffering issues. Users have previously had similar problems with other Netflix live events. The aforementioned “Love Is Blind” reunion special, for example, was only seen live by a small number of subscribers and did not end up becoming fully available on the platform until the day after it was supposed to air.
