Netflix wanted to broadcast a major sports event, but millions of users were unable to use the streaming service. Netflix has long expressed its desire to enter the sports sector.
Why is Netflix suddenly getting into sports? Netflix wants to make money and aims to grow. With just subscription numbers and increasing fees, there eventually comes a point where it reaches a limit.
That’s why the company wants to enter other areas as well. Especially in live sports reporting, there is still a lot of potential and, above all, financial opportunities:
- At the end of 2023, the first major deal came: a billion-dollar ten-year contract with the wrestling organization WWE.
- Soon after, it was announced that Netflix plans to broadcast two NFL games live for the first time at Christmas 2024. The costs are expected to be around 75 million US dollars per game. Broadcasts are also planned for 2025 (via omr.com).
With the major boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, the streaming service aimed to show that it can do even more than just broadcast major sports events, namely attract millions of viewers.
After all, it is also about a lot of money: According to digitalfernsehen, Tyson is reportedly set to earn between 50 and 100 million euros for his appearance. However, Netflix failed with the streaming of the event.
Viewers who want to stream the event on Netflix see nothing
What went wrong? The boxing match took place on the night of November 15 to 16, 2024. For us Germans, the event started at 3 AM, with the main fight beginning at 5:30 AM.
However, many users reported technical issues even during the preliminary fights. With the hashtag #netflixcrash, thousands of users took to Netflix’s X page to report that the servers were unreachable.
By the time the main fight began, many users were completely out of luck. It is unclear how many users were actually affected. Even Jake Paul, one of the two boxers, joked: “More than 120 million people on Netflix, we crashed the site.”
More Netflix and Sports: Until now, Netflix has primarily shown documentaries in the sports field. Wrestling is one of the largest entertainment shows in the world, and wrestlers are famous celebrities who also appear in films. Behind all this business is Vince McMahon, and Netflix dedicates a documentary to him. MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes found the documentary series more captivating than many movies: New series on Netflix shows the man who made wrestlers like The Rock famous – It’s as exciting as a good thriller
