Netflix is getting serious about live sport. It’s bringing in Beyoncé
By Garry Maddox
The blood had barely dried after the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight before Netflix revealed its next livestreamed sport power plays.
Having promoted an NFL double-header on Christmas Day, during what turned out to be a lacklustre fight – both for boxing fans wanting a genuine contest, and viewers around the world who suffered technical glitches – the streaming giant announced that Beyoncé would perform a Super Bowl-style half-time show.
Jake Paul and Mike Tyson during their Netflix bout.Credit: Getty Images
Her first live performance of songs from her mega-successful album Cowboy Carter will come during the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game – at 8.30am AEDT on Boxing Day for Australian viewers – that follows the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs playing the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Next, Netflix announced that rapper Travis Scott had contributed the theme song for its expansion into livestreamed wrestling, with Monday Night RAW debuting on January 6 in the US. He will appear at the event in Los Angeles, though there is no indication that he will be performing.
While it clearly has big plans, Netflix has had mixed success moving into livestreamed sport over the past year.
The Netflix Cup, which had four Formula 1 drivers competing against four golf professionals, was described as a chaotic show for fans of its Drive To Survive and Full Swing sports documentary series. The Netflix Slam, an exhibition match between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, seemed to give tennis fans value for their subscription.
Executives must have been heartened that Paul’s victory over Tyson, according to an internal company memo, peaked at 65 million viewers – a strong number even on a platform with 283 million viewers worldwide.
But tens of thousands of complaints about connection problems and frozen screens raised questions about whether, much like 58-year-old Tyson up against 27-year-old Paul, it was biting off more than it could chew by challenging live pay-per-view sport.
It was a flashback to the technically disastrous livestream of the Love is Blind reunion episode last year.
But for Netflix, there were more benefits to screening the fight than just attracting and retaining subscribers.
After months of build-up, that included the 2023 documentary Untold: Jake Paul the Problem Child and the faux documentary series Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson, Netflix could not have crammed more cross-promotion into the livestream. It plugged new seasons of Squid Game, America’s Sweethearts and Cobra Kai as well as the NFL on Christmas Day, and its coming movie Back In Action.
The undercard featured yet more cross-promotion, with Variety noting that India’s Neeraj Goyat, who appeared on Netflix’s Ultimate Beastmaster: India, fought Brazil’s Whindersson Nunes, who has three comedy specials on – you guessed it – Netflix.
When the NFL carved out two Christmas games and the company won the livestreaming rights for three years, the deal was widely seen as changing the sports media landscape.
“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live – tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” Netflix’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, said. “There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts.”
Squid Game … a new season was plugged during Netflix’s livestreamed fight. Credit: Netflix
While no-one from Netflix was available for comment after the Paul-Tyson fight, the company joins other overseas and Australian streamers (including Kayo with cricket, NRL, Formula 1 and netball, Optus Sport with Premier League football, Paramount+ with Australian football, and Stan with rugby and Champions League football) in carving up live sport with free-to-air networks.
After the crackdown on password sharing, live American football and WWE wrestling will help Netflix attract young male subscribers. And by broadening its coverage with Beyoncé’s teased guests – possibly including Dolly Parton, Post Malone and/or Miley Cyrus – and a Chiefs game, which means Taylor Swift might be there supporting boyfriend Travis Kelce, girls and women might also watch.
So where next for Netflix?
Australia’s biggest televised sports – the AFL grand final and State of Origin rugby league – have too small an audience for its global ambitions.
Surely executives are discussing whether there’s a way to livestream an NBA event for basketball fans. Or maybe snatch the rights to a key Formula 1 race.
While Tour de France Unchained has had two lively seasons, the length of the race and awkward time zones for American viewers takes that off the agenda.
It seemed like Paul was lining up another fight for Tyson when he suggested that he take on his fellow YouTuber-turned-boxer brother Logan. Then Paul declared that he wanted to fight former UFC champion Conor McGregor, 36, in an MMA bout.
McGregor, who has the four-part series McGregor Forever on Netflix, responded on social media that Senator Mitch McConnell, 82, would be a more suitable opponent. Whether that was a dismissal or promotional prefight banter is yet to be revealed.
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