The latest live sporting event on Netflix delivered more promising numbers for the streamer, as the Amanda Serrano-Katie Taylor fight at Madison Square Garden last Friday drew 6 million viewers.
According to Rick Porter at The Hollywood Reporter, who cited internal Netflix and VideoAmp data, 4.2 million of those viewers came from the U.S. It was a relatively small number compared with the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson spectacle last November, but Netflix is boasting the figure as the top viewership mark for any women’s pro sports broadcast this year.
Netflix claimed that 74 million people worldwide watched Part II of Serrano-Taylor last year as part of the Paul-Tyson card, but that fight was the lead-in to the surprise match between an influencer and an old-timer.
These events are not Nielsen-rated like most live sports. Netflix counts “views” as total hours watched divided by a video’s runtime. Estimates, such as the 74 million mark for Serrano-Taylor last November, come from Netflix data and TVision analytics.
For traditional sports broadcasts, Nielsen attempts to estimate the total number of people watching by placing boxes in randomly selected homes, bars, restaurants, and public places. Nielsen then averages that number across the runtime of a broadcast and typically releases data for when an event “peaks” in viewership, in addition to the average.
No matter the differences in calculations, Netflix will likely be thrilled that it can draw several million people in for a smaller boxing card led by women athletes. As it considers further entry into live sports rights, the Serrano-Taylor fight is another promising data point that suggests the streamer should continue investing in the space.