by Thinus Ferreira
Massive embarrassment is mounting at Netflix over the humiliated video streaming service's botched livestream attempt of the controversial boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul on Friday night which was marred by freezing, buffering, sound problems and crashing completely.
A litany of other Netflix technical issues and mistakes caused thousands of users to give up and leave who tried to watch it, while on-screen mistakes and sound failures led to a cringe-inducing live production.
Right from the start of the undercard fights inside the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas it quickly became clear that Netflix didn't have the capacity to do the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight right - freezing up, slowing down, the audio cutting out constantly and the image quality being reduced to smeared pixels throughout.
Netflix's farcical live stream crashed multiple times before, during and after the undercard and main boxing match, leading to massive frustration with Netflix users who eventually just gave up.
By the time the 27-year old YouTuber won against the 58-year old boxing veteran, thousands who came to watch in-person had reportedly also left the stadium already without even knowing who had won, while thousands of Netflix viewers who tried to watch, had abandoned the attempt.
Many in the stadium booed both Mike Tyson and Jake Paul during the second half and left, saying that the fight failed to justify the hype.
Furious Netflix users worldwide complained about being unable to watch the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight which was Netflix's first major sports streaming event done live and its debut in live combat sports.
Thousands of Netflix users took to X, formerly known as Twitter to complain, with one saying "This live stream from Netflix is horrendous. Buffering on and on, pixelated image, muffled sound. They wanted the big event and they are fumbling it. If I had purchased a subscription for this event I would demand a refund first thing tomorrow".
Kevin Adams, one of the Barstool Sports' hosts in America said "Netflix really fumbling tonight. My TV has frozen and buffered about 15 times so far. Sound cutting in and out. What a shit show."
Another said: "If Netflix doesn't fix this buffering issue, this will go down as one of the biggest fails in all of TV/streaming history".
"This Netflix broadcast is an incredible ad for Amazon Prime," remarked another.
"Hey, is anyone else having server and bandwidth issues with Netflix? Pixels have ramped down to 1995 TV level and it keeps buffering," said another, while another frustrated user noted that "Netflix has crashed! We have been buffering at 25% for 10 minutes and now frozen. It's not my network. We are pushing 250mbs".
Anele Mdoda told Netflix South Africa "I'm sending you okes my subscription money in phases next month. Going to buffer it across the month".
Peter Ndoro said "Unbelievable! Netflix sets up this big fight Tyson Paul and doesn't prepare for the huge online demand and now we are struggling to see it.What a mess!! Netflix, stick to movies!"
Hours later Netflix hadn't responded to media queries and hadn't issued any statement on the botched live sports streaming event.
Besides Netflix that was hampered by freezing and buffering, multiple other technical issues and mistakes marred the live stream attempt.
When Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys owner tried to thanks Netflix in the stadium, his microphone went dead at the event and online.
During the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders performance, A Netflix cameraman got kicked in the head and stumbled moving down the line in a live shot, seconds into the broadcast.
Presenter Kate Abdo was forced to apologise for Netflix's ongoing technical problems.
Joined by veteran boxers Andre Ward, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield at the desk, Kate Abdo was forced to apologise for the sound problems, that they couldn't hear and the malfunctioning headphones.
Evander Holyfield couldn't hear a single question Kate Abdo asked him at the other side of the desk, with Kate Abdo who had to ask Lennox Lewis constantly to ask and relay her questions to him.
"Evander, I apologise. I'm so sorry about the sound," she said.
