Netflix is all-in on reside streaming — however is the tech prepared?

Since 2023, Netflix has experimented with livestreaming occasions. It rapidly constructed up its reside service choices to cowl a few of the greatest sporting occasions of 2024 and 2025, however it wasn’t with out issues. Amusingly, Netflix confirmed in 2022 that it didn’t intend to increase into reside sports activities streaming, however right here we’re in 2025, with Netflix having efficiently streamed NFL’s 2024 Christmas Gameday Dwell, which shattered world viewing data, and an unique deal to stream WWE exhibits weekly.

Nevertheless, lower than two months in the past, reside occasions on Netflix have been on shaky foundations. The extremely anticipated Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match on November 15, 2024, was lambasted for its technical points, which turned the match right into a pixelated mess with uneven sound high quality for a lot of viewers.

Netflix goes all-in for reside streaming in an try to extend consumer retention and engagement. However will it work?

A short historical past of Netflix’s reside choices

A brief however drama-filled timeline

Netflix has live-streamed content material lengthy earlier than 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 additionally featured a reside pre-show and aftershow, each of that are now not viewable (The principle stand-up set remains to be viewable). This was a technical success and confirmed that Netflix may host a profitable reside occasion.

Nevertheless, Netflix’s subsequent deliberate reside occasion on April 16, Love is Blind: Reunion, failed to start out streaming and was ultimately canceled. Whereas it was filmed and made accessible 4 days later, it was however a big step again. The following catastrophe was The Netflix Cup on November 14, a golf event between Components 1 drivers and PGA Tour professionals, that was marred by disastrous audio and a complicated timetable that brought about widespread confusion.

Nevertheless, regardless of these missteps, Netflix pressed ahead with its reside service choices, culminating within the disastrous Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match, which was streamed to 60 million households. Lots of the technical points have been blamed on an overload of Netflix’s digital infrastructure.

After all, servers being unable to maintain up with demand will not be distinctive to Netflix. However when Netflix made such a catastrophe of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match, a standard query pitched on-line was some variation of “Can Netflix make reside work?”

However Netflix could make reside work, because it’s proved time and time once more. A lot of the controversy relating to the boxing match debacle centered round whether or not Netflix may keep away from comparable technical points on its Christmas Day reside streams. Nevertheless, the NFL Christmas Gameday Dwell streamed with no hitch. This could possibly be put right down to the typical viewer rely, which was solely half that of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match. Nonetheless, Netflix has to this point prevented any technical disasters heading into what could possibly be the most important yr for reside occasions on Netflix.

Netflix appears to be like set to go full-steam forward with reside into 2025

WWE followers have nowhere else to go

Within the first half of January, Netflix hosted three reside occasions. WWE Uncooked on January sixth, WWE NXT on January seventh, and WWE SmackDown on January tenth.

Identical to the Christmas Day NFL video games, these occasions streamed with no hitch. Maybe unsurprising contemplating the comparatively low viewer rely (2.6 million households for Uncooked’s debut), this was however an extremely necessary occasion for Netflix, marking WWE’s debut on the streaming platform. The viewer rely additionally reached over double Uncooked’s common US viewers, and better than any Monday Night time Uncooked in 5 years.

With these successes below its belt, Netflix is poised to make 2025 a profitable yr for reside content material. It’s now the unique house of Uncooked and WWE Premium reside Occasions in lots of nations, together with the US, Canada, and the UK.

Nevertheless, these reside exhibits pull in a fraction of the viewers of the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson boxing match. Whereas we will safely say that Netflix will have the ability to make reside occasions work, whether or not it may pull off an occasion of this scale once more stays to be seen.

Past its weekly WWE Uncooked, NXT, and Smackdown occasions, Netflix has not introduced any extra reside exhibits. Nonetheless, these are necessary checks of Netflix’s reside infrastructure, as common weekly reside occasions are a greater take a look at of Netflix’s capability to help reside content material than one-off occasions.

How reside content material performs into Netflix’s future

Netflix has had a rocky few years. Its subscriber rely dropped for the primary time since 2011 in 2022 because the speedy inflow of recent customers over the pandemic rapidly reversed. Nevertheless, since then the corporate has recorded steadily rising subscriber counts once more (5m in Q3 2024), however this may increasingly now not be a helpful metric for measuring the corporate’s success.

Netflix will now not report its subscriber rely in its quarterly reviews. Whereas that is irritating for these of us trying to preserve tabs on the corporate’s success, Netflix’s rationalization matches up with its new technique.

Co-CEO Gray Peters claimed that this variation stems immediately from the corporate’s new enterprise mannequin. Reasonably than specializing in membership numbers as the first measure of success, it’s now simply one other metric alongside revenue streams like additional member packages and promoting. The corporate is now specializing in bettering engagement to retain current customers above signing up brand-new customers.

One of many extra notable examples of this technique was the launch of Netflix Video games in 2021. Regardless of a lackluster launch, the Netflix Video games library now incorporates a few of the greatest video games on Android. From unique titles like Monument Valley 3, to current titles like Civilization VII, it is a formidable assortment of cellular video games.

Unique reside content material is a extra necessary step, because it’s extra related to Netflix’s current consumer base than cellular video games. Issues look good for Netflix, however we’ll have to attend and see if it may show that the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson match was a one-off mishap quite than an omen of disasters to return.