This past Saturday, climber Alex Honnold free-soloed one of the world's largest skyscrapers, Taipei 101, live on Netflix.
He reportedly earned only $500,000.
To contrast, Jake Paul reportedly earned $93 million from Netflix for his last boxing match against Anthony Joshua.
At first glance, that feels insane — Honnold scaled 1,700 feet with no rope.
In reality, the difference comes down to leverage...and shares an important lesson for creators.
Owning Entire Production
Jake Paul didn’t just show up to fight. His company promoted the event, negotiated the Netflix deal, and controlled distribution.
He earned money as the fighter and producer.
Honnold basically showed up as talent. One performance. One check. No ownership of the event.
Netflix produced the live event, marketed it, and brought in the likes of Mark Rober and other talent to help promote.
As Honnold put it: “I’m not getting paid to climb the building. I’m climbing the building for free. I’m getting paid for the spectacle.”
Setting Trend for 2026?
2026 will be the year of live events. Especially as people grow disillusioned with all the AI content they see online.
That doesn't just mean "traditional" live events like basketball, football, or boxing.
But new events that we didn't realize there would be mass attention for. Like live free-soloing. Imagine trying to explain that to your friends before last weekend.
"Order some pizza and grab the guac because we're about to watch this dude free solo!!" said no one ever.
Until it was on Netflix. It proved a new category: live free-soloing.
Let's Agree To Disagree
Some like Jordi Hays from TBPN said it was "straight up criminal" that Honnold got paid $500,000. Others said his agent should be fired.
I completely disagree.
Honnold wasn't a household name. He was the guy from the "Free Solo" documentary. At best.
Now, he's known around the world as the human Spiderman.
Look At The Numbers
Before the Taipei 101 livestream, Netflix could say: “We’re taking all the risk. Here’s $500,000.”
Boxing already had global demand and a proven audience. Climbing didn’t.
After Taipei 101, that argument isn't as strong because Honnold now has a case study:
With those metrics, Honnold could command millions in his next deal and more in sponsorships.
Oh, and don't be surprised if Honnold starts his own live events production company like Paul did as this craze catches on.
A More Personal Story
Bringing it back to us mere mortals for a moment...
This reminds me of a lot of our first brand deals on our YouTube channel.
I remember thinking: we're punching above our weight class. Our videos were getting millions of views despite having much fewer subscribers.
So we took deals "below" market rates with a goal to overdeliver for every sponsor.
And we did. Just like Honnold with Netflix. Guess what? A ton of those sponsors renewed with us for bigger spend.
Now our costs have ballooned where that'd be much harder to do, but I see so many smaller creators still having too much ego.
"I'm better than that! I know my worth!" they say.
Swallow your pride. Think longer-term. Be like Honnold. If you're trying to be world class, the world will ultimately notice.