The MLB Field of Dreams game returned after a four-year hiatus with a steep decline in viewership in its Netflix debut.
Last Thursday’s Phillies-Twins Major League Baseball “Field of Dreams” game from Dyersville, Iowa, averaged just 1.66 million viewers on Netflix, per the Associated Press — down by about half from the last time the event was held in 2022, when Cubs-Reds averaged 3.10 million on FOX.
Viewership was even lower compared to the original Field of Dreams game in 2021, a Yankees-White Sox matchup that averaged nearly six million viewers on FOX. That 2021 game still ranks as the most-watched MLB regular season window since 2005.
The Phillies’ win averaged slightly more viewers than last year’s MLB ‘special event’ game, the Braves-Reds MLB “Speedway Classic” from Bristol Motor Speedway on FOX. But that game took place over two days due to rain delays that washed out the original Saturday night window.
It was easily the least-watched of the three Netflix-exclusive Major League Baseball events this year, behind the Yankees-Giants Opening Night game in March (2.97M) and the Home Run Derby in July (5.3M). To put the numbers in perspective, NBC had one of its least-watched “Sunday Night Baseball” games all season five days earlier and still averaged a larger audience of 2.1 million (2.01M per Nielsen, plus Adobe Analytics).
“Field of Dreams” is slated to return next season, but on the NBC broadcast network (and Peacock). Netflix contractually owns rights to one ‘special event’ game per year as part of its three-year deal with MLB, but it is not clear what other event the streamer will carry instead.
As is typical of sports on streaming services, Field of Dreams skewed younger than is typical with a median age of 46, per the AP — the youngest for an MLB special event game. The significance of the younger skew is obviously limited by the sizable decline in viewership.
Albeit with a small sample size, Nielsen-measured sporting events on Netflix have not previously taken nearly as much of a hit compared to their linear equivalents. It should be noted that Field of Dreams was the first of those games to take place on an ordinary day in a season, and while the game had a standalone window to itself, it was just one of nine total contests on Thursday.
