St. Louis Cardinals slugger Jordan Walker won the 2026 MLB Home Run Derby, edging out Kyle Schwarber 31-30 in the Finals. Unfortunately, the fewest number of people in over two decades tuned in to watch him do it.
According to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, Monday's Home Run Derby on Netflix drew just 5.3 million viewers - the lowest viewership total since 2003. Though if it's any consolation, it's just a seven-percent drop from last year and less than 200,000 shy of the viewership total for ESPN and ESPN2 in 2024.
"Hearing that the MLB Home Run Derby drew around 5.3 million viewers on Netflix on Wednesday night. That would be the lowest audience for the Derby since 2003 (5.2 million). Netflix's Derby debut would be -7% or so from last year on ESPN (5.7M), and down from 5.5M two years ago," Karp wrote on X.
Perhaps the fact that the number only dropped a little bit in the transition from ESPN to Netflix will be promising for both Major League Baseball and Netflix. But for the most part, the drop is still not a good sign.
Fans Weigh In
Fans have a lot of thoughts as far as the direction of baseball and the division of the sport into different platforms. For the most part, they're worried that things are going back into a downward spiral for baseball:
"Fragment the audience against so many different platforms that its inevitably going to impact ratings," one user on X remarked.
"After seeing how Netflix did hosting 'Opening Night' I didn’t bother watching the Derby. Sounds like I didn’t miss much either, but again maybe if a Mariner was in it. I think most people would rather enjoy watching clips of the Derby from back in the day," wrote another.
"While ESPN doesn’t have the households it once did, I think leagues/governing bodies still underestimate the added surround strategy that ESPN brings in the days leading up that bolster ratings. This HRD felt like it snuck up on me-had to search for it Mon night when I realized," a third wrote.
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"Ironically the most entertaining Derby in years, but the broadcast and camera work were atrocious, plus people are sick of jumping between 20 different platforms to watch stuff. It's a shame."
"More people may have Netflix than ESPN but it is always better to put an event you want people to watch on a regular channel and not on a streaming service."
Do you think the switch to Netflix is the reason the ratings were down this year, or is it something else?
