Glitchy Fight Stream Drew 60M, Netflix Says

Customers had complaints about the viewing experience when they watched the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul—as well as about the fight itself. But they didn't anticipate disappointment when they tuned in, and, encouraged by the hype, 60 million households watched the Friday night bout, Netflix said. Paul won on a unanimous decision after a fight with no knockdowns and not much drama. The event was free to Netflix users to watch, per NBC News.

The live broadcast was practice for the streaming service, which plans to being hosting WWE's weekly show, Monday Night Raw, starting in January. The earlier matches included interruptions and a blurry picture at times, USA Today reports, but downdetector.com showed complaints fell off by the time the main event began in Arlington, Texas. The number of streams hit 65 million during the match, Netflix said. The streaming service posted Saturday on Instagram that "the boxing mega-event dominated social media, shattered records, and even had our buffering systems on the ropes." The preceding match between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, which did have drama, was shown in about 50 million households, Netflix added. Taylor won on a decision. (More Netflix stories.)