Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight watched by 60 million households
Jake Paul and Mike Tyson’s heavyweight boxing match was watched by an estimated 60 million households worldwide, peaking at 65 million “simultaneous streams,” according to data shared by Netflix.
More data, including total viewership, will be released in the coming days, the streamer said. Netflix also said that 50 million households worldwide tuned in live to watch the co-main event of Serrano vs. Taylor 2, which the streamer predicted would be “probably the most-watched women’s professional sporting event in US history” once the 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.
According to Netflix, Paul vs. Tyson and Taylor vs. Serrano 2 “the biggest boxing gate outside of Las Vegas in US history,” while the Paul vs. Tyson gate has surpassed $18 million, “double the previous Texas gate record for combat sports. in both boxing and MMA, surpassing Canelo Álvarez’s record of $9 million.
Besides Paul vs. Tyson also featured a critically acclaimed rematch between undisputed super lightweight champion Katie Taylor and unified featherweight champion Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano, in which Taylor once again defeated Serrano by a controversial unanimous decision. Taylor previously won the first fight between the two via a split decision. Other fights included a fight between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos for the WBC welterweight world title, which ended in a split draw, and Neeraj Goyat defeating Whindersson Nunes by 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 tennis event The Netflix Slam, and a Season 4 reunion special of “Love Is Blind.” The streamer will then air two live NFL games on Christmas Day 2024, while WWE’s weekly live show ‘Raw’ moves to Netflix in January.
Exact comparisons of Paul vs. Tyson to other Netflix live events in terms of viewership are difficult, as Netflix typically does not release regular ratings information outside of their weekly Global Top 10 lists.
However, it was previously reported that Rogan’s special spent two weeks on the English-language TV Global Top 10 list, with 2.5 million views in the first week and 2.9 million in the second, before disappearing from the list. Likewise, Rock’s special appeared on the Global Top 10 chart for a week, but this was before Netflix started reporting views instead of just hours watched. Rock’s special attracted 17.79 million viewing hours that week. With a running time of 69 minutes or 1.15 hours, and Netflix defining a view as the total hours watched divided by the total running time (in hours), that works out to approximately 15.47 million views. Other events, such as the live reunion ‘Love Is Blind’, did not make the Global Top 10 list, nor the US Top 10 list.
The Paul-Tyson Friday Fight Card, the biggest live event Netflix has produced to date, was plagued by technical issues along the way, with many users complaining about lag and buffering issues. Users have previously had similar issues with other Netflix live events. For example, the aforementioned “Love Is Blind” reunion special was only seen live by a small number of subscribers and ultimately only became fully available on the platform the day after it was set to air.
