Major League Baseball made its debut on Netflix with strong viewership, as the Yankees vs. Giants Opening Night broadcast drew 2.97 million viewers.
According to Nielsen, the game averaged a 1.3 rating, making it the most-watched MLB Opening Night or Opening Day broadcast since the pandemic-affected 2020 season. Excluding that period, it is the highest figure since 2017.
The record was surpassed the following day by Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks on NBC, which drew a combined 3.2 million viewers across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
The Yankees-Giants matchup marked the first standalone Opening Night game since 2015 and became the first Nielsen-rated MLB broadcast to air exclusively on a streaming platform. It was also only the fifth Netflix sports broadcast ever measured by Nielsen, following the platform’s NFL Christmas Day games.
While viewership did not approach National Football League levels, the game performed competitively among non-NFL streaming events. It ranked just below the most-watched NBA game on Amazon Prime Video this season (3.07 million) and ahead of last year’s top NASCAR stream (2.72 million).
Scheduling also played a role. The Wednesday night broadcast avoided direct competition with NCAA March Madness, which has historically impacted MLB Opening Day ratings. By contrast, NBC’s Thursday broadcast faced a different competitive landscape.
Netflix highlighted the relatively young audience profile, reporting 636,000 viewers in the 18–34 demographic and 1.38 million in the 18–49 demographic — both the highest for a primetime Opening Day broadcast since 2017, excluding 2020.
Among Opening Week broadcasts, the Netflix game ranked second in total viewership, ahead of FOX’s regional window, which averaged 2.59 million viewers. Overall, four Opening Week broadcasts exceeded two million viewers, compared to none during the same period last season.
Opening Week also marked the start of new three-year media rights agreements involving Netflix and NBCUniversal, following ESPN’s decision to opt out of its previous deal. ESPN has since secured a revised package that includes 30 exclusive game windows, set to begin later this month.