Netflix under pressure to get Beyonce-NFL event right after technical struggles of Paul-Tyson fight
CBC
Move over, Santa Claus: Beyoncé will be making an appearance in homes this Christmas as part of Netflix's latest foray into the world of live sports.
The streaming giant announced that Queen Bey would perform during halftime of an NFL Christmas Day matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans in her hometown of Houston.
The announcement comes two days after Netflix's livestream of a boxing event featuring a headline bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which was riddled with technical difficulties.
Experts say as streaming companies continue to delve into the world of live sporting events, figuring out a way to successfully broadcast them will be key to growing their subscriber base.
According to the website Downdetector, nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to the main fight. Many users took to social media to vent their frustrations.
The struggles were likely due to a "lack of foresight" on Netflix's part, according to Michael Naraine, an associate professor of sport management at Brock University.
Naraine said that Netflix knows the number of users who will tune in to the release of a show like Stranger Things, through user behaviour and data collection, and can prepare accordingly. But since Netflix's engagement with live events is relatively recent, the company "didn't necessarily anticipate that 60 million people were going to watch."
"It's possible that they were also naive to think that their current existing platform could have held 60 million people from all over the world watching at one singular point in time," he added.
Naraine said that because of the "lack of foresight or the naiveté ... you end up in a situation where people are having buffering issues."
Despite the struggles, Netflix reported that 60 million households tuned in to watch the Paul-Tyson fight, with a peak of 65 million concurrent streams.
It's an important takeaway for Netflix, a company that continues to dabble in the world of live sports.
If they don't get "their act together ... this could be a problem because sports is the growth vehicle for Netflix going forward and, quite frankly, for all streaming platforms going forward," said Naraine.
Netflix didn't respond to CBC News's request for comment before the publication of this piece.
Earlier this year, Netflix announced a deal worth more than $6.7 billion ($5 billion US) that would make it the exclusive home of World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw from January 2025 onward.
