Jake Paul and Mike Tyson’s Netflix fight was one of the streamer’s most hyped events of the year, and it seems like all that hype paid off. Variety is reporting that the fight drew 108 million viewers worldwide, which would make it the “most streamed global sporting event ever.”
The fight reportedly garnered an average minute audience (AMA) of 108 million viewers globally and peaked at 65 million concurrent viewers across the globe, including 38 million in the United States. The fight was also the top streaming title on Netflix through the weekend, where it wracked up another 46.6 million streams.
Netflix had previously announced that 60 million households globally tuned in for the fight and that 50 million households watched the co-main event Taylor vs. Serrano 2.
The fight itself received a more mixed response, in part because it was slower than many expected. Paul ultimately won the bout on unanimous decision after the full eight rounds were fought. The match also received some criticism for reasons that had very little to do with the fight itself. Netflix was plagued by technical issues throughout the evening, including some users who were logged out of the app altogether in the middle of the action.
Netflix is clearly moving toward hosting more live events, and with good reason, given the viewership it’s able to command. Unfortunately, the platform’s technology is not always able to support the demand that these live events create, which can lead to major issues and frustrate viewers who were eagerly anticipating seeing the event unfold in real time. Thankfully, they weren’t missing that much this time around.
