Looks like boxing’s funeral can wait! Netflix hosted not one but two high-profile brawls on November 15, headlined by Jake Paul vs. the legendary Mike Tyson and co-headlined by Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor.
The result? A whopping 1.43 million new subscribers, according to data firm Antenna. That little number (or big, depending on your perspective) marks the largest single-day subscriber acquisition event Netflix has seen since at least 2019.
For Netflix’s Paul-Tyson fight Antenna observed 1.43M Sign-ups over a 3-day period. Regular big spikes in acquisition related to programming is common w/many streamers, but not so for Netflix which typically has steady rate of sign-ups w/ minimal variance day-to-day. (2/3) pic.twitter.com/Xnw6cBjwjo
— Antenna (@AntennaData) December 16, 2024
Jake Paul and Mike Tyson: The Circus Main Act
Sure, it was a spectacle—Jake Paul, the social media bruiser, and Mike Tyson, the living legend who probably shouldn’t be fighting in 2024. Call it whatever you like, but it pulled viewers. The event peaked at 108 million eyeballs across 60 million homes worldwide. Dead sport, right? Seems like Netflix knows exactly what people will tune in for, even if they won’t admit it in public.
Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor: The Undercard That Wasn’t
While the Jake Paul–Mike Tyson matchup hogged all the headlines, the co-main event—Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor—quietly racked up 75 million global viewers. Not bad for an “undercard.” Apparently, women’s boxing isn’t just surviving—it’s thriving! It’s almost as if Netflix thought, “Why not gamble on two fights at once? If one fails, the other might cover it.” Spoiler alert: They both succeeded!
Streaming Chaos Meets Record Numbers
Let’s not sugarcoat it: the stream was a mess for some viewers. Frozen screens, buffering, and tech glitches had thousands grumbling louder than a ringside heckler.
The March Toward More Live Sports
With 282 million subscribers in the bag already, you’d think Netflix wouldn’t bother wooing new folks. But the big brass discovered a new golden goose in live sports. How convenient. Next up on the streamer’s grandiose calendar are two exclusive NFL games on Christmas Day. If you thought the boxing fiasco was a major subscription magnet, just wait until Netflix hawks prime holiday football. This pivot into sports is about as subtle as a heavyweight’s knockout punch.
A “Dead” Sport, Revived Just in Time
For years, cynics have been eulogizing boxing, saying it doesn’t have the audience, the hype, or the glam. But in a world where YouTube personalities take on old pros, apparently 1.43 million new sign-ups say otherwise. One can’t help but admire the neat synergy: Netflix gets to brag about “unprecedented” numbers while hawking the next big event, and boxing gets a convenient PR jolt.
So, is boxing really dead? Netflix sure hopes not. They’re banking on the sweet science fueling big paydays and even bigger subscription hikes. Whether or not those 1.43 million newbies stick around remains to be seen, but for now, the streamer’s treating these metrics like the second coming of Ali vs. Frazier. Cynics might roll their eyes, but Netflix? They’re rolling in fresh subscribers.
