Netflix drew 3 million viewers for its debut MLB effort featuring the Giants and Yankees, but maybe most importantly for the league, the youngest MLB Opening Day audience since the delayed start to the pandemic season in July 2020. Excluding that pandemic year, it would be the youngest audience for an MLB opener in a decade. The audience among adults 18-49 was the best for Opening Day since 2017.
Overall, Netflix’s audience of 3 million was behind the 3.2 million viewers the following night on NBC/Peacock for D-Backs-Dodgers. It was higher than the 2.6 million that Fox drew for its first regionalized window of the season on Saturday night. Netflix’s MLB debut is even with what Fox drew early last month for the U.S.-U.K. pool play game in the World Baseball Classic.
The final audience number for Netflix was delayed by a number due to a data processing error, but the 3 million figure (Big Data) matched what the preliminary number was, sources told SBJ. Regardless, the 3 million viewers was above Netflix’s internal estimates and the company is pleased headed into its two other games this season -- the Field of Dreams Game and Home Run Derby.
Beyond baseball, 3 million for Netflix matches what CBS drew in primetime in the first round of this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for St. John’s-Northern Iowa, or what ESPN drew on New Year’s Eve for Nebraska-Iowa in the Las Vegas Bowl.
