Netflix foray into combat sports Friday night was a success despite the troubles with its stream. According to the company, 60 million people across the globe tuned into the broadcast on the streaming site.
The trouble with viewing the “spectacle” aside, the buzz leading up to the event disguised the fact that any thought that Tyson was going to upend the 27-year-old Paul ended in the first minute of the first round. Yet, Netflix claims victory with the amount of subscribers viewing the event.
But, Fox Sports’ President Michael Mulvihill questioned the pronouncement by Netflix. “Nielsen is fully capable of producing a U.S.-only viewership number for Netflix on a next day basis, but they can’t do it if Netflix doesn’t ask for it,” said Mulvihill on social media. “And why would NFLX ask for it when the entire internet runs with their worldwide number no questions asked?”
This is true.
Obviously, the issue is the same with what the UFC does when it announces its gate and attendance. The company announces it and there is no third party to confirm this, or at least one that will go public with that information.
Netflix also reported that 50 million households saw the co-main event of Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor. Netflix also reported that the gate was $18M with 72,300 “total attendees.”
Payout Perspective:
It is hard to obtain any third-party information when it comes to streaming. But, one might suspect the 60 million mark would be accurate based on the grand swath of people interested in the fight. Again, its hard to fathom that everyone thought Mike was going to win, but they were willing to tune in to see.
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