First Pitch, First Movers: How Tatari Got 7 Brands Into MLB's Netflix Debut

Last week, something historic happened at Oracle Park in San Francisco. (Besides the heavily-favored candidate for MVP, Aaron Judge, striking out 4 times to start the year), it marked the first time a live MLB game has ever been streamed on Netflix. No cable box required. No RSN blackout to navigate. Just one of the most storied franchises in American sports, on the world's most dominant streaming platform, creating a massive opportunity for advertisers who are clamoring for more live sports moments.

Why Netflix Went to Bat for Baseball

Netflix didn't stumble into the MLB deal. It was the product of a very deliberate, very calculated strategy to own live sports, one event at a time. In November 2025, MLB announced a new media rights agreement. The timing wasn't coincidental. ESPN had opted out of its existing MLB rights deal earlier that year, creating an opening that Netflix moved quickly to fill. The deal is a three-year partnership worth roughly $50 million per season, giving Netflix exclusive rights to three marquee events: Opening Night, the Home Run Derby, and the iconic Field of Dreams Game.

But this is bigger than a dollar figure. This is Netflix making a statement: baseball's biggest stages now belong to streaming.

Before this, MLB's Opening Day had lived exclusively on linear television, the kind of appointment viewing that advertisers have relied on for decades. That era is evolving. While Apple TV and Peacock showcased MLB games in previous seasons, the first pitch of the 2026 season belonged to Netflix's 300+ million global subscribers, with the game broadcast in multiple languages demonstrating the worldwide appeal baseball (once again) has. And the timing couldn't be better.

America’s Pastime is Living in the Present

Anyone who wrote off baseball in the last decade owes the sport an apology.

The excitement was already building well before the first pitch of the 2026 season. The World Baseball Classic, which just concluded with Venezuela ousting the US, drew an average of 10.78 million viewers for the championship game on FOX and FOX Deportes, making it the most-watched WBC telecast in the tournament's history. A powerful reminder that baseball's audience is not just large, it's deeply engaged and increasingly global. Netflix's Opening Night couldn't be arriving at a better moment.

The 2025 MLB postseason was the most-watched since 2010, drawing 30% more viewers than the year before. The World Series averaged nearly 15 million viewers per game, and Game 7 — a Dodgers-Blue Jays classic that went to extra innings — peaked at 31.5 million viewers. That made it the most-watched MLB game since 2017, and it outdrew the NBA's 2024 Game 7 Final by roughly 10 million viewers.

Let that sink in.

Baseball delivered one of the most compelling sports stories of the year, and audiences responded. In today's fragmented, multi-screen, streaming-everything media landscape, 31 million people choosing to watch the same baseball game at the same time is nothing short of remarkable.

Last postseason, Tatari helped 21 brands including Nutrafol, TickPick, TimberTech, and Ring, secure spots across the 2025 MLB postseason. Response rates during the postseason ran 24% higher than regular-season MLB games for our clients. In the World Series specifically, we saw attribution performance run 3x to 12x stronger than comparable NFL placements. Rocket Money saw 700 incremental app installs from a single spot. Gusto, a B2B platform, drove nearly 3x the website visits compared to their college football buys — at roughly the same spend level.

Why Netflix Inventory Is Different — and Why That Matters for Advertisers

Here's where Tatari's story gets particularly important.

Netflix is not a DSP. It is not a programmatic exchange. You cannot log into a self-serve platform, set a target CPM, and bid your way into MLB’s Season Opener on Netflix. That's simply not how it works.

Premium live sports inventory on Netflix, like the World Series spots on Fox, or the NFL Christmas games, or last week’s Opening Night inventory exists entirely outside the programmatic ecosystem. It is sold through direct relationships, negotiated in advance, and allocated to partners who understand the landscape and have the access to move in it.

Tatari is one of those partners.

Our direct relationships with streaming platforms and networks are the reason our clients can access inventory that other advertisers, including those using DSPs and programmatic buying tools, simply cannot reach. This isn't a workaround. It's by design. The most premium moments in live sports are reserved for direct buyers, and Tatari has spent years building the relationships and the infrastructure to operate in that space.

Just as we helped clients secure floaters, NPE buys, and upfront inventory in last year's MLB postseason through our direct network partnerships, we are positioned to do the same on Netflix. When Netflix sells advertising adjacent to the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams Game, those placements go to buyers with direct access — not to the programmatic open market.

If you want to be on Netflix when baseball's biggest moments happen, you need a partner who can actually get you there. And score…

Opening Night Performances That Raked

Based on what we observed across the 2025 MLB postseason, and the strong viewership and engagement data from Netflix's prior live sports events, our expectation is strong. High-intent audiences, exclusive inventory, and a tentpole moment that the entire country is tuned into, that combination has produced some of the strongest attribution numbers in Tatari history. We'll let the data speak for itself.

Tecovas

Tecovas continued its strong run in premium live sports with a standout Opening Night performance on Netflix. After its spot aired, Tecovas’ website visits spiked 7.6x higher than baseline, making it one of the strongest-performing advertisers in the game. For a brand built around craftsmanship and Americana, the MLB opener delivered exactly the kind of high-attention audience Tecovas thrives in, proving once again that the right sports moment can drive both cultural relevance and measurable response.

Turtlebox

Turtlebox brought its rugged, outdoor-first speakers into one of the biggest new sports stages of the year and the results hit! Its website visits spiked 9.9x after its spot aired, signaling strong resonance with Opening Night viewers. It’s the kind of performance that underscores why live sports remains such a powerful environment for brands with passionate audiences. When the creative fits the moment, the response can come fast.

TimberTech

For TimberTech, Opening Night showed how even considered-purchase brands can win big in live sports. Demonstrating that marquee sports inventory isn’t just for impulse buys or app downloads, TimberTech drove 4.2x lift in site visits following its commercial. When audiences are engaged and inventory is scarce, premium moments like Netflix’s MLB debut can create meaningful demand, even for brands with longer purchase cycles.

What’s On Deck in 2026?

Netflix now controls some of MLB’s biggest games. It has a headlock on WWE Monday Night Raw for the next decade. It has Christmas Day NFL games through 2026, with strong signals it wants more. It is already the streaming home of the FIFA Women's World Cup starting in 2027. Live sports is the engine that makes that ad tier pay off. And Tatari is positioned at the intersection of all of it.  If the 2025 World Series taught us anything, it's that brands who get in the game early - and strategically - win big.

Play ball.

Want to step up to bat and get your brand into Netflix's MLB inventory or plan your 2026 live sports strategy? Let's talk.