The Social Media Powerhouse Behind Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson: Most Valuable Promotions’ Winning Formula

Dan Lalonde
Nov 19, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Nov 21, 2024

VIDEO OF FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS BELOW ARTICLE:

The historic fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was more than a clash of fists; it was a masterclass in social media marketing and event promotion. At the heart of this success was Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the team behind Jake Paul’s rise in professional boxing and the mastermind behind this iconic event. With their innovative strategies, MVP not only ensured a packed AT&T Stadium but also engaged a record-breaking 108 million global viewers across Netflix’s live-stream platform with a 20 million gate revenue from ticket sales.

Most Valuable Promotions: The Faces Behind the Scenes

Founded in 2021 by Jake Paul and his business partner Nakisa Bidarian, Most Valuable Promotions is built on a modern approach to sports promotion. Bidarian, a former UFC CFO and seasoned entrepreneur, brought extensive experience in sports finance and operational excellence. Jake Paul contributed his unmatched expertise in leveraging social media to build personal brands and sell high-profile events.

The duo has cultivated a small but highly effective team of strategists, creatives, and digital marketers who understand the pulse of the internet. Their core mission has always been to combine Jake Paul’s online persona with compelling narratives that turn fights into global spectacles.

Social Media Marketing: MVP’s Playbook for Paul vs. Tyson

Social media was the backbone of the fight’s marketing campaign. MVP’s social media strategy revolved around omnipresence, ensuring that every major platform was saturated with content leading up to the fight. Here’s how they did it:

Leveraging Jake Paul’s Star Power

Jake Paul’s 40+ million followers across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram were instrumental in hyping the fight. MVP crafted short, snappy content showcasing Paul’s training, trash-talking, and humorous jabs at Mike Tyson. The posts were deliberately provocative, engineered to spark debates and viral sharing.

Key example: A viral TikTok where Jake Paul humorously compared his youth and “energy” to Tyson’s age had over 20 million views and spurred countless duets and reactions.

Targeting Nostalgia with Tyson

MVP tapped into Mike Tyson’s legendary status to attract an older demographic. The team created content showing Tyson’s rigorous training and personal reflections on his career. They posted exclusive behind-the-scenes footage on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which resonate more with older audiences.

Key example: A YouTube clip titled "The Baddest Man is Back" featuring Tyson’s return to training garnered 15 million views in a week, inspiring older fans to tune in.

Interactive Campaigns and User-Generated Content

MVP ran several interactive campaigns to keep fans engaged. These included:“Who Will Win?” Polls: Regular Instagram and Twitter polls invited fans to choose sides and share predictions, resulting in millions of interactions.

Customized TikTok Filters: MVP released a “Face-Off” filter that allowed users to pose as either Jake Paul or Mike Tyson, driving millions of user-generated videos.

Fan Challenges: The #KnockoutChallenge on TikTok encouraged fans to mimic their favorite Jake Paul or Mike Tyson knockout moment, resulting in hundreds of thousands of submissions.

Strategic Collaborations with Influencers

MVP partnered with influencers across TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch to amplify the fight’s visibility. Key collaborations included:Gaming influencer NICKMERCS, who hosted a pre-fight Twitch stream discussing fight predictions, reaching his 7 million followers.

TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio posted content hyping up the fight, helping reach Gen Z audiences in droves.

Pre-Fight Content Series

To maintain a drumbeat of excitement, MVP collaborated with Netflix to release the docuseries "Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson." The series offered fans an intimate look into both fighters’ preparations. MVP’s team shared key clips and exclusive moments from the series across social platforms, generating 10 million interactions in the week before the fight.

Real-Time Engagement on Fight Night

On fight night, MVP orchestrated a live social media blitz:They posted exclusive backstage moments on Instagram Stories and Twitter.

Hosted live polls and Q&As during the event, ensuring viewers felt involved.

Collaborated with Netflix to encourage viewers to tweet with hashtags like #PaulVsTyson, which trended globally for over 12 hours.

The Results Speak for Themselves

MVP’s social media strategy delivered unprecedented results:108 million global viewers, with Netflix reporting a peak of 65 million concurrent viewers.

20 million gate revenue from ticket sales.

Over 1 billion total social media impressions in the month leading up to the fight.

Live Sports On Netflix

Netflix is significantly expanding its live event offerings by securing exclusive streaming rights to major sports content. Starting January 2025, Netflix will become the home of WWE's flagship program, "Monday Night Raw," in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Latin America, with plans to extend to additional regions over time.

This partnership also includes streaming WWE's premium live events such as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble globally. Additionally, Netflix has entered a three-year agreement with the NFL to broadcast live Christmas Day games, beginning with two matchups on December 25, 2024.

The Future of Sports Marketing

Most Valuable Promotions has redefined what it means to promote a boxing event in the digital age. By blending Jake Paul’s influencer clout with Mike Tyson’s legacy, they created a marketing juggernaut that appealed to both younger and older generations. Their innovative use of social media, interactive campaigns, and strategic content partnerships stands as a blueprint for future events.

For brands and promoters, MVP’s success underscores the importance of understanding your audience, engaging them across multiple platforms, and building a narrative that inspires participation.