Fox took a not-so-subtle shot at Netflix during its NFL pregame show Sunday.
Co-host Curt Menefee brought up the fact that fellow co-host Rob Gronkowski was at Friday’s Mike Tyson-Jake Paul bout at AT&T Stadium, which aired on Netflix.
“Our man Gronk was at the big Jake Paul fight against Mike Tyson,” Menefee began. “There he is right there.”
The Fox broadcast then began to show Gronkowski embracing Shaquille O’Neal, but the network edited the clip to to make it look like the video was buffering.
It was a clear dig at Netflix’s streaming issues during the heavily anticipated fight.
The company announced that 60 million viewers tuned into the bout, but it came with scores of users complaining that their stream was buffering or crashed.
CTO Elizabeth Stone admitted that the company has work to do.
“This unprecedented scale created many technical challenges, which the launch team tackled brilliantly by prioritizing stability of the stream for the majority of viewers,” Stone wrote to employees, according to Bloomberg. “I’m sure many of you have seen the chatter in the press and on social media about the quality issues.
“We don’t want to dismiss the poor experience of some members, and know we have room for improvement, but still consider this event a huge success.”
Netflix’s streaming issues occurred just over a month ahead of its NFL doubleheader on Christmas, when the Chiefs face the Steelers and the Ravens play the Texans.
“60 million households around the world tuned in live to watch Paul vs. Tyson! The boxing mega-event dominated social media, shattered records, and even had our buffering systems on the ropes,” Netflix wrote on X on Saturday.
Friday’s bout was Netflix’s first foray into streaming live boxing fights and represents one of the platform’s first attempts at streaming a live event — an area it has wanted to grow in — in general.
Netflix will become the new home of WWE “Raw” in 2025.
The 27-year-old Paul beat Tyson, now 58, via unanimous decision.
