Netflix didn’t do so well with its first live-streaming sports event. The well-promoted fight between Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson took the stage tonight, following three other fights. But once the preliminary fights came to an end, the number of users who were waiting for the headline match skyrocketed as people logged in to watch these two fighters have at it. Something Netflix clearly wasn’t ready for.
At first, everything seemed like it was going ok. But once such a strain was placed on Netflix’s servers, connectivity issues ran rampant. Users faced numerous issues ranging from repetitive buffering messages, the inability to load the stream at all (sometimes getting stuck at 25%), and even getting kicked out of Netflix completely.
Some error screens attempted to reconnect to the stream, while others went as far as asking the user to unplug their streaming device, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in, and try again. Thousands of users were left wondering if they were going to be able to catch the fight at all. Preparing themselves for being stuck waiting for the highlights to hit mainstream news.
Thankfully, things got better right before the match began. Little by little, the connection became more reliable as Netflix was clearly redirecting resources to be able to withstand the sudden demand. Eventually, maintaining a solid connection through all eight rounds of the fight. It wasn’t always a perfect connection, some being left with as little as a 720p or even a 480p resolution through parts (or all) of the fight, but the connection remained for most.
With this experience behind it, Netflix should have a much better understanding of what to expect for future events. Preparing well ahead of time to avoid this from happening again.
