Since 2023, Netflix has experimented with livestreaming events. It quickly built up its live service offerings to cover some of the biggest sporting events of 2024 and 2025, but it wasn’t without problems. Amusingly, Netflix confirmed in 2022 that it did not intend to expand into live sports streaming, but here we are in 2025, with Netflix having successfully streamed NFL’s 2024 Christmas Gameday Live, which shattered global viewing records, and an exclusive deal to stream WWE shows weekly.
However, less than two months ago, live events on Netflix were on shaky foundations. The highly anticipated Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match on November 15, 2024, was lambasted for its technical issues, which turned the match into a pixelated mess with choppy sound quality for many viewers.
Netflix is going all-in for live streaming in an attempt to increase user retention and engagement. But will it work?
A brief history of Netflix’s live offerings
A short but drama-filled timeline
Netflix has live-streamed content long before the disastrous Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match. Its first livestream was of Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage stand-up set on March 5, 2023, which also featured a live pre-show and aftershow, both of which are no longer viewable (The main stand-up set is still viewable). This was a technical success and showed that Netflix could host a successful live event.
However, Netflix’s next planned live event on April 16, Love is Blind: Reunion, failed to start streaming and was eventually canceled. While it was filmed and made available four days later, it was nevertheless a significant step back. The next disaster was The Netflix Cup on November 14, a golf tournament between Formula 1 drivers and PGA Tour pros, that was marred by disastrous audio and a confusing timetable that caused widespread confusion.
However, despite these missteps, Netflix pressed forward with its live service offerings, culminating in the disastrous Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match, which was streamed to 60 million households. Many of the technical issues were blamed on an overload of Netflix’s digital infrastructure.
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Of course, servers being unable to keep up with demand is not unique to Netflix. But when Netflix made such a disaster of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match, a common question pitched online was some variation of “Can Netflix make live work?”
But Netflix can make live work, as it’s proved time and time again. Much of the debate regarding the boxing match debacle centered around whether Netflix could avoid similar technical issues on its Christmas Day live streams. However, the NFL Christmas Gameday Live streamed without a hitch. This could be put down to the average viewer count, which was only half that of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match. Nevertheless, Netflix has so far avoided any technical disasters heading into what could be the biggest year for live events on Netflix.
Netflix looks set to go full-steam ahead with live into 2025
WWE fans have nowhere else to go
In the first half of January, Netflix hosted three live events. WWE Raw on January 6th, WWE NXT on January 7th, and WWE SmackDown on January 10th.
Just like the Christmas Day NFL games, these events streamed without a hitch. Perhaps unsurprising considering the relatively low viewer count (2.6 million households for Raw’s debut), this was nevertheless an incredibly important event for Netflix, marking WWE’s debut on the streaming platform. The viewer count also reached over double Raw’s average US audience, and higher than any Monday Night Raw in five years.
With these successes under its belt, Netflix is poised to make 2025 a successful year for live content. It is now the exclusive home of Raw and WWE Premium live Events in many countries, including the US, Canada, and the UK.
However, these live shows pull in a fraction of the viewers of the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson boxing match. While we can safely say that Netflix will be able to make live events work, whether it can pull off an event of this scale again remains to be seen.
Beyond its weekly WWE Raw, NXT, and Smackdown events, Netflix has not announced any more live shows. Nevertheless, these are important tests of Netflix’s live infrastructure, as regular weekly live events are a better test of Netflix’s ability to support live content than one-off events.
How live content plays into Netflix’s future
Netflix has had a rocky few years. Its subscriber count dropped for the first time since 2011 in 2022 as the rapid influx of new users over the pandemic quickly reversed. However, since then the company has recorded steadily growing subscriber counts again (5m in Q3 2024), but this may no longer be a useful metric for measuring the company’s success.
Netflix will no longer report its subscriber count in its quarterly reports. While this is frustrating for those of us looking to keep tabs on the company’s success, Netflix’s explanation matches up with its new strategy.
Co-CEO Grey Peters claimed that this change stems directly from the company’s new business model. Rather than focusing on membership numbers as the primary measure of success, it is now just another metric alongside income streams like extra member packages and advertising. The company is now focusing on improving engagement to retain existing users above signing up brand-new users.
One of the more notable examples of this strategy was the launch of Netflix Games in 2021. Despite a lackluster launch, the Netflix Games library now contains some of the best games on Android. From exclusive titles like Monument Valley 3, to existing titles like Civilization VII, it’s an impressive collection of mobile games.
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Exclusive live content is a more important step, as it’s more relevant to Netflix’s existing user base than mobile games. Things look good for Netflix, but we’ll have to wait and see if it can prove that the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson match was a one-off mishap rather than an omen of disasters to come.
