Jake Paul fighting Mike Tyson was undoubtedly one of the most talked about events of 2024 but it was also one of the most watched fights of all time and Netflix has the numbers to back that up.
The streaming service released a trove of viewing data for the second half of 2024 with the most watched shows, events and films with the Paul vs. Tyson card proving to be a huge success. The card that aired on Nov. 15 resulted in 235.7 million hours of watch time with 48.9 million total views.
That earned the Paul vs. Tyson card the No. 7 slot in the top 10 for most viewed shows for Netflix between July and December 2024.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, the Paul vs. Tyson card dwarfed a pair of NFL games that debuted on Netflix this past December as part of a new package the streamer landed for 2024.
The two games that aired on Christmas Day landed in the top 80 for most watched shows with 14.4 million and 14.3 million viewers respectively with 84 million combined viewing hours.
While Netflix hasn’t produced a ton of live events or sports specific programming, the success of the Paul vs. Tyson card obviously has the streaming service buzzing for further investment in that segment moving forward in 2025.
Paul revealed that he expected his next fight to actually land at Netflix after he was close to a deal for a matchup against boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately, Alvarez eventually passed on the opportunity to face Paul and instead inked a lucrative multi-fight deal to compete for Riyadh Season, the Saudi Arabia backed venture pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into combat sports over the past few years.
The success of Paul vs. Tyson has also led to plenty of speculation that Netflix could get into the bidding for the broadcast rights of the UFC with the promotion’s deal with ESPN coming to a close at the end of 2025. The UFC is currently in an exclusive negotiating window with ESPN through April 15 but then the company can begin fielding offers from other potential partners, which could include Netflix.
