March 25, 2026
Netflix saw record views for its exclusive Japanese-only streaming rights to the 2026 World Baseball Classic, generating more than 31.4 million views across 47 games, including the most-watched game, Japan’s 4-3 pool play win over Australia, which drew 17.9 million viewers.
The live stream of the Japan vs. Australia game is the most-watched title ever on Netflix in Japan — surpassing every series, film, anime, and other sports programs on the streaming service.
Netflix, with more than 325 million global subscribers, delivered the largest-ever streaming audience across all platforms worldwide and marked the most streamed baseball game ever.
During the quadrennial tournament, Netflix introduced new forms of coverage using technologies such as volumetric video, dirt cameras, indoor drones, and Statcast, as well as pre-game and post-game shows produced on the field.
These innovations resonated strongly with a broad audience — particularly viewers under 35 and women — and, combined with the buzz on social media, helped establish a new sports-viewing culture across Japan, according to Kaata Sakamoto, head of content at Netflix Japan.
“This tournament marked Netflix’s successful entry into live sports streaming in Japan,” Sakamoto said. “We will leverage these results and learnings to continue delivering unique live experiences on Netflix.”
Throughout the tournament, 55% streamers watched at least one non-Japan game. The top three Japan games were Japan vs. Australia, Japan vs. Korea (17.9 million), and Japan vs. Venezuela (17.3 million). For non-Japan matchups, the top three were U.S. vs. Venezuela, Australia vs. Korea, and U.S. vs. Canada.
“For many in Japan, Team Japan was the entry point to the WBC, and from there, they went on to explore teams from all 20 participating countries and regions, resulting in highly diverse viewing patterns,” Sakamoto said.
Netflix will live-stream today’s Major League Baseball 2026 season opening game between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants, airing globally at 5 p.m. PT.
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