Netflix is facing a class action lawsuit after streaming problems occurred during the Jake Paul vs.MikeTyson boxing match. A Florida resident filed a lawsuit in state court on Monday, alleging the streaming giant violated contract and consumer protection laws.
The boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson drew a huge audience. According to Netflix, the match was watched by 108 million people worldwide, including 60 million households. This means that roughly one in five Netflix subscribers watched the event, making it the most watched sporting event in the platform's history.
However, many viewers ran into problems. When the fight started at 7 p.m. CT, people complained about buffering, freezing and missing parts of the event. Some could not access the broadcast at all. After nearly three hours, the number of reported problems had reached 97,000. On X (formerly Twitter), topics like "NetflixBroken" and "unwatchable" were trending.
Prior to this event, Netflix seemed confident. Gabe Spritzer, vice president of Netflix's sports division, said in an interview:
"On the technical side, everyone is excited and ready".
Promoter Nakisa Bidarian also expressed confidence that "Netflix's servers will be up to speed."
Netflix did not offer refunds or discounts to affected viewers after the problems occurred. The company also declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Ronald Denton, the Florida resident who filed the lawsuit, wants to represent all subscribers who had problems watching the fight. The lawsuit claims that Netflix was "woefully ill-prepared" for the huge audience and failed to deliver the promised service. The company is seeking unspecified damages.
Netflix has faced similar problems before. Last year, the live streaming of the fourth season of "Love Is Blind" was delayed by more than an hour due to technical problems.
Despite these setbacks, Netflix CEO Greg Peters recently said that the company can handle live streaming. He did not give a specific reason for the boxing match problems.
The huge viewership numbers for the Paul-Tyson fight come from TVision analytics, which combines U.S. viewing data with Netflix's own numbers.
