Netflix attracted 1.43 million new customers for Tyson vs. Paul bout
Netflix attracted 1.43 million new customers for Tyson vs. Paul bout
The stream might have been marred with issues, but it definitely brought tons of people to Netflix.
Just how much of Netflix’s November boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was a success is open to interpretation. If you ask the streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos, the night was “off the charts,” but to one of the hundreds of thousands of viewers who experienced technical issues during the stream, it was something of a flop. But as new data from Antenna shows, Netflix was able to attract not just current customers to the fight, but a large inventory of brand-new subscribers as well.
Key Details:
- Antenna says that 1.43 million new customers signed up to Netflix to watch the fight.
- The data firm says it was Netflix’s single-biggest acquisition event since at least 2019.
- Netflix is hosting two exclusive NFL games on Christmas Day which could also lure large swaths of new subs.
The Paul-Tyson fight was a fairly unique event for Netflix. The streamer has offered live events before, but usually, they have been comedy specials or niche sports programming, such as a celebrity golf tournament. The boxing match had much more broad appeal, as its peak audience of 108 million viewers in over 60 million homes demonstrates.
Antenna’s numbers show that 1.43 million new customers came to Netflix to watch the fight. That in and of itself is an achievement; Netflix already has more than 282 million subscribers around the world, by far the largest of any streamer. Finding and reaching another 1.43 million viewers who didn’t have the streamer previously is impressive, and it made for the the service’s largest single programming acquisition event since Antenna started tracking it in 2019.
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It wasn’t just the main event that drew people to Netflix, either. The co-main event between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor attracted almost 75 million global viewers itself, and there are more live sports on the horizon for Netflix. It’s got two live NFL games on tap on Christmas Day and is the exclusive home for those games around the world.
Past history shows those games could be another chance for Netflix to sweep up a new batch of customers. Peacock’s exclusive presentation of an NFL Wild Card playoff game in January drew almost 3 million viewers once Antenna had finished compiling all the data, and now it might be Netflix’s turn to benefit from the popularity of the league.
It might seem like something of a surprise that Netflix has never drawn more than 1.43 million new customers for a single programming event, but the streamer is operating a bit differently than it has in the past. Normally, Netflix releases content in more of a steady stream, as opposed to marquee live events with broad audience appeal. The Paul vs. Tyson fight was essentially the first such event in the streamer’s history, but judging from the results it certainly won’t be the last.
Netflix
Netflix is a leading subscription-based video streaming service that offers on-demand access to an extensive library of over 3,000 movies, 2,000+ TV shows, and a growing collection of acclaimed Netflix originals. Renowned for producing groundbreaking content, Netflix has become a cultural powerhouse with hit originals like “Stranger Things,” “Wednesday,” “Squid Game,” “The Crown,” “Tiger King,” “Bridgerton,” “The Witcher,” and “Black Mirror.”