Global streaming giant Netflix has unveiled the official viewing figures for the recent high-profile boxing match between YouTube star Jake Paul and former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. The data provides a fascinating insight into the evolving landscape of sports broadcasting and allows for a direct comparison with the platform's previous blockbuster event.
Headline Numbers: A Global Audience Tunes In
The headline figure confirms that a global average minute audience (AMA) of 33 million Live+1 viewers watched the fight from the opening bell to the final knockout. This metric, derived from VideoAmp data in the United States, represents the estimated average number of people watching any given minute during the broadcast.
Despite the significant number, the event's reach was notably overshadowed by Jake Paul's previous outing. The figures for Paul vs Anthony Joshua are less than a third of the 125 million AMA recorded for Paul's fight against the legendary Mike Tyson in November of last year. The Tyson event retains its crown as the most-streamed global sporting event in history.
Geographic Reach and Social Media Impact
Both fights demonstrated immense global appeal, landing in Netflix's Top 10 charts in 91 countries. However, the Tyson fight achieved the number one spot in a dominant 78 countries, while the Joshua contest secured the top position in 45 countries—just over half of its predecessor's tally.
On social media, Anthony Joshua's victory over Paul proved a major talking point, generating a staggering 1.25 billion impressions across Netflix's official channels worldwide. Yet again, the Tyson fight edged ahead, creating over 1.4 billion owned impressions. A standout performer from the Joshua fight was a slow-motion clip of the knockout itself, which has racked up over 214 million impressions, making it the highest-performing clip from any Netflix live event to date.
Both bouts trended as the number one topic worldwide on X (formerly Twitter). Paul vs Joshua specifically trended at the top in the UK, US, and Brazil. The Tyson fight, however, made a more profound impact on the platform in the US, accounting for all of the top 11 trending topics nationally during its broadcast window.
Commercial Venues and Undercard Disparity
The comparison extends to commercial viewership. The Paul vs Tyson fight set a US record for combat sports in bars and restaurants, with Joe Hand Promotions estimating over 1 million viewers across more than 6,000 venues. In contrast, early estimates from EverPass suggest nearly 600,000 viewers watched Paul vs Joshua in similar commercial settings.
A significant gap was also evident in the audience for the co-main events. The high-profile women's bout between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, which supported Paul vs Tyson, drew an estimated 125 million AMA Live+1 viewers—matching the main event. For the Joshua card, the co-feature fight between Alycia Baumgardner and Leila Beaudoin attracted an estimated 15 million AMA Live+1 viewers globally.
The data conclusively shows that while a fight featuring Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul can pull in a massive modern streaming audience, the crossover appeal and sheer nostalgia of a figure like Mike Tyson, even at 58 years old, remains in a league of its own. Netflix's foray into major boxing events continues to reshape how fans consume the sport, proving that streaming platforms are now heavyweight contenders in live sports broadcasting.
