Late Friday night, thousands of Netflix users across the United States reported issues accessing the platform, coinciding with the eagerly awaited boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. The streaming giant faced a significant surge in complaints, with 85,021 problem reports logged on the outage-tracking website Downdetector.com by 10:35 p.m. ET (0335 GMT Saturday).
The disruption was felt most acutely in major metropolitan areas, including New York City, Seattle, and Los Angeles, though reports also came in from various other regions across the country.
Netflix, when approached for comment by Reuters, did not immediately respond. However, technical outages during high-profile events or live streams are not new for the platform. Elevated traffic spikes often challenge the platform's infrastructure, causing interruptions for users.
This is not the first time Netflix has faced backlash for outages during anticipated events. In April of the previous year, the streaming service encountered a brief outage during a live airing of the popular dating reality show Love is Blind, which also prompted thousands of user complaints.
Although viewers eagerly tuning in for the Tyson-Paul fight expressed their frustrations online, the exact cause of Friday night’s outage remains unclear. Industry experts speculate that surges in concurrent user activity may have overwhelmed Netflix’s servers, a common issue for platforms during widely watched events.
As streaming services continue to expand into live events and real-time broadcasting, maintaining consistent service during peak demand has become an increasing challenge. This outage highlights the growing need for platforms like Netflix to bolster their infrastructure to handle the pressure of live streaming major events effectively.
