Streaming giant Netflix Inc NFLX recently streamed a live boxing event featuring a match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson which led to difficulties for consumers trying to watch the fight.
The company's co-CEO Ted Sarandos highlighted the success of the fight and what's ahead for live sports events in a recent interview.
What Happened: Netflix saw unprecedented demand for the Nov. 15 boxing match between Paul and Tyson with 109 million people watching the fight globally, according to Sarandos.
"We were pushing the (internet service provider), every ISP in the world, right to the limits of their own capacity. We were stressing the limits of the internet itself that night," Sarandos said at a UBS conference earlier this week, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Sarandos said the company had a control room in Silicon Valley that worked on fixing internet issues due to the "unprecedented demand that was happening."
The Netflix co-CEO highlighted the combined efforts of the content team, marketing, publicity and social media teams to help make the fight as big as it was.
"It's really phenomenal. It's a Super Bowl-like audience that we were able to draw for this fight."
What's Next: Netflix has a quick turnaround to prepare for huge demand for its next live sporting event.
The company hosts two National Football League games on Christmas Day. While the NFL games might not have as big of an audience as the boxing match, the fact the Kansas City Chiefs play in one game and Beyoncé is performing at halftime in the other could increase the audience compared to normal NFL games.
"It is Christmas Day. So you will be aware that it is Christmas Day, the show and the broadcast itself, and all the entertainment that's wrapped around it will all be very special and very unique, and I think, bigger than the game itself," Sarandos said.
The Netflix executive said the company is preparing to offer more "big-scale live events" and do them more frequently. This means the company will likely need to make sure the NFL games see fewer issues than the boxing event to keep customers happy as at least one class-action lawsuit hit the company over the buffering issues during the boxing match.
For Netflix, live sports events offer a way to gain subscribers and diversify its content. The events also allow the company to grow its advertising revenue with the ad-supported plans a growing focus.
Sarandos said the NFL games and upcoming WWE events have brought "a lot of demand" from advertisers. The Netflix executive said the company may have left money on the table with advertising revenue for the Paul-Tyson match.
"If we knew the audience would be that big, we probably would have done a lot more selling on that fight."
Netflix begins broadcasting WWE events in January as part of an agreement with the company's owner TKO Group Holdings TKO. Sarandos said WWE fits into the mold of a younger audience and treats sporting contests like big events.
"We also liked it because for a sport, it also has a 40-person writer room, so it's much closer to our current wheelhouse of creating and storytelling."
While Netflix has bid on media rights for sports leagues in the past, comments from Sarandos suggest the company would prefer to push for unique events instead of a full season.
NFLX Price Action: Netflix stock is down 1% to $918.07 on Friday versus a 52-week trading range of $461.86 to $941.75. Netflix stock is up 96% year-to-date in 2024.
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Courtesy: Netflix
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