Last Friday's highly anticipated Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight on Netflix was marred by technical glitches that left at least one customer so disappointed that he took legal action. Ronald “Blue” Denton, a Florida resident and Netflix subscriber, filed a lawsuit in Florida state court on Monday, seeking unspecified monetary damages and class-action status on behalf of other affected consumers. The lawsuit alleges that Netflix was woefully ill-prepared for the high demand of the fight and that the livestream was unwatchable due to various problems.

Netflix's Live Event Fiasco: From Glitches to Lawsuits

Technical Challenges and Customer Discontent

On the evening of the much-hyped fight on November 15th, Netflix customers took to social media to vent their frustrations about video feeds freezing while the livestream was buffering. Even with these technical issues, the Tyson-Paul match still managed to draw an estimated average minute audience of 108 million live viewers globally, making it the "most-streamed global sporting event ever." However, the event peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, with 38 million concurrent streams in the US. According to Denton's lawsuit, 60 million Americans were excited to see "Iron" Mike Tyson face off against YouTuber-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul. What they actually witnessed was "The Baddest Streaming on the Planet." In April 2023, Netflix had already experienced a major live event fiasco with its "Love Is Blind" reunion, which was massively delayed due to technical issues and became available on the platform 19 hours after it was supposed to stream live. Denton's lawsuit points out that Netflix customers have experienced such issues before and should have been better prepared.

The Impact on Boxing Fans and the Public

The Florida lawsuit claims that there were "over 100,000 people complaining online" about the technical issues with Netflix's Paul-Tyson livestream. Boxing fans, along with average Americans eager to see a boxing legend in what was likely his last fight, were faced with legendary problems such as no access, streaming glitches, and buffering issues. Instead of providing the programming its viewers pay for every month, Netflix was completely unprepared and unable to fix the issues in a timely manner. Paul, 27, emerged victorious over Tyson, 58, in eight rounds with a unanimous decision at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.