Netflix’s boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson took place last week and, by several accounts, it went well from a viewership standpoint. The streamer reported that the 2024 TV schedule event raked in big numbers, but not everything went smoothly. Amid the livestream, there were technical issues, which were critiqued by users. Now, it’s been revealed that an exec for the streaming company sent a message on the subject to employees, and it’s being roasted by social media users.
Just recently, the message in question came from the mega streamer’s Chief Technology Officer, Elizabeth Stone. Her internal memo to employees was shared on X by chief Bloomberg correspondent Mark Gurman. When addressing her colleagues, Stone expressed significant enthusiasm over the success of the Paul/Tyson bout. At the same time, she also shared some comments on the tech issues that cropped up during the livestream:
This unprecedented scale created many technical challenges, which the launch team tackled brilliantly by prioritizing stability of the stream for the majority of viewers. I'm sure many of you have seen the chatter in the press and on social media about the quality issues. We don't want to dismiss the poor experience of some members, and know we have room for improvement, but still consider this event a huge success.
In fairness, it would seem that the sporting event was indeed successful, based on the numbers that were released. Bloomberg and other news outlets reported that Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson peaked with a total of 65 million concurrent viewers. That total actually even surpassed the sum that was brought in by Tom Brady’s roast earlier this year by 1.8 million. But, while one could certainly argue that this was a win in one respect, a number of people still don’t seem enthused about their viewing experiences.
As Elizabeth Stone alluded to in her message, there was a considerable amount of chatter on social media throughout the night of the livestream. More than a few people took to X to discuss the buffering issues, video quality changes and more. While Stone acknowledged that she and her team have “room for improvement,” users who commented on Mark Gurman’s post didn’t hold back their opinions. Check out what some of them had to say:
- Classic 'say nothing' statement in order to avoid any legal consequences. - @thedealdirector
- Netflix has extensive traffic simulation tools so uhhhh maybe just use em a little better? - @flyosity
- Poor statement. They should say it didn’t meet standards and they’ll address it for future live sporting events. - @D_Twitt3r
- Unacceptable. They should know what to expect by now. - @mikearevalos
- I had $10K on the over for "buffering"... - @robcalvert13
- I saw 15 seconds of the 3rd round. That's it. Complete failure [Netflix] - @ChrisFromKS
Tell us how you really feel, guys. What can be gleaned from the comments above and the others under the post is that consumers desire a better streaming experience for such an event moving forward. On the other hand, though, there does seem to be a number of people who were able to watch the match between the odds-on favorite Jake Paul and the Shaquille O’Neal-backed Mike Tyson.
Right now, it remains to be seen exactly how Elizabeth Stone and co. will remedy the aforementioned issues from a technical perspective. Time will tell whether the team is willing and ready when the next sports livestream occurs. Otherwise, customers with social media accounts could make their voices heard yet again.
You can stream Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson now using a Netflix subscription.
