Netflix eyes homerun with MLB livestreaming deal

Baseball fans pack the stadium for a 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League game between KT Wiz and LG Twins held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on March 29. [NEWS1]

 
Netflix is looking for a home run with its latest move: livestreaming MLB games.
 
Coming off the heels of its exclusive rights to broadcast the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Japan earlier in March, the streaming giant upped the ante recently in the race among platforms to secure the rights to sports broadcasts, which help retain subscribers over longer periods than films or dramas do.
 

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The season opener between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco drew strong interest from Korean fans as Lee Jung-hoo of the Giants — who served as captain of Korea’s national team in the WBC — took the field.
 
Netflix plans to continue its MLB coverage with the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on July 13 and the “MLB at Field of Dreams” specialty game on Aug. 13.
 
Netflix entered sports streaming later than other streaming platforms. In the United States, Amazon Prime began broadcasting NFL Sunday Night Football in 2017 and has since expanded to the English Premier League and the NBA.
 
In Korea, Tving has streamed KBO games since 2024, Coupang Play has aired K League matches since 2022 and Disney+ began broadcasting League of Legends (LoL) competitions including the LoL KeSPA Cup organized by the Korea e-Sports Association last year.
 

A promotional image of the streaming platform Tving's broadcast of the World Baseball Classic [TVING]

 
Sports content offers what industry insiders call a “lock-in effect.” It keeps users on a platform during periods when major film and show releases are limited.
 
Tving, for instance, saw its monthly active users surpass 7.31 million in Korea in May of last year due to KBO broadcasts. This reduced the gap with Netflix, which had 11.18 million monthly active users in the same month, to 3.87 million. Just three months earlier, during baseball’s offseason, the gap exceeded 6 million users.
 
This year, Tving — the only streaming platform to stream WBC games — also saw an influx of new subscribers. Its average weekend daily active users in March rose about 22 percent from February, according to aggregator Mobile Index.
 
“In March, WBC games were followed by KBO preseason games, and both contributed to the increase in users,” a Tving representative said.
 

An inflatable Netflix logo and baseball are shown in McCovey Cove before a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees in San Francisco on March 25. [AP/YONHAP]

 
Live sports also generate higher advertising revenue, commanding significantly higher ad rates than on-demand content.
 
Netflix’s ad-supported subscription tier, introduced in November 2022, had 190 million users around the world as of November last year — accounting for 58 percent of its 325 million global subscribers. Its advertising revenue reached $1.5 billion last year, a two-and-a-half-fold increase from the previous year, with a target of $3 billion this year.
 
“Like traditional TV primetime ads, live-streaming ads carry high rates,” said Cho Young-shin, a visiting professor at Dongguk University’s Graduate School of Digital Image and Contents. “Since launching its ad-supported tier, Netflix has entered the sports broadcasting market backed by massive capital.”
 
However, exclusive streaming rights have raised concerns over access to major sporting events.
 

A thumbnail from a YouTube video detailing how to cancel Netflix subscriptions, after Japanese viewers launched subscription cancellation campaigns following the country's elimination in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
In Japan, viewers criticized Netflix after the streaming service secured exclusive rights to broadcast all WBC games across both TV and streaming platforms. Broadcasting rights are typically split between television and new media, but Netflix’s full exclusivity meant viewers had to pay to watch the tournament.
 
The decision triggered backlash among viewers. Older audiences in particular expressed frustration, while younger viewers launched subscription cancellation campaigns after Japan was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
 
“For major sporting events, streaming platforms need to consider co-broadcasting with terrestrial TV as part of brand management,” said culture critic Kim Hern-sik. “If platforms raise subscription fees while holding exclusive rights, they will inevitably face user backlash and cancellations.”


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG EUN-HYE [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]