Netflix’s growing efforts in live events received a sizable boost from last week’s free climb of a Taipei skyscraper by Alex Honnold.

The streaming giant said Tuesday that it reached 6.2 million global views for its Jan. 24 coverage of Skyscraper Live, the company’s latest foray into live sports programming and one that documented Honnold, a noted rock climber, scaling Taipei 101—one of Asia’s tallest buildings at 1,667 feet—without ropes or a harness. 

It’s important to note that the viewership figures are based on Netflix’s internal data, and they were not tabulated by an established audience measurement agency such as Nielsen. That differs materially from how Netflix’s NFL games, which briefly held a league streaming record and helped lift the entire U.S. streaming business last month, have been tracked.

Instead, the latest metric more closely resembles those for events such as the 2024 boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, which generated an estimated average minute audience of 108 million. The international data from that event was first-party, unaudited numbers, while U.S. figures were compiled with the aid of advertising technology firm TVision. 

Viewership for Skyscraper Live was likely hampered, at least to some degree, by a weather delay that pushed the climb from an originally scheduled Friday night broadcast, in U.S. time zones, to Saturday night. The initial data reflects viewership that happened live Saturday and then on demand Sunday. 

Skyscraper Live ranked third last week among English-language Netflix shows in total views behind His & Hers and Season 1 of Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials. Easily leading Netflix last week, though, was the heist movie The Rip with 40.4 million views.

Growing the Business 

Still, Netflix plans to push more into live events, particularly in sports—even as it continues to avoid standard, full-season rights packages. 

In addition to its work in sports such as football, boxing, and professional wrestling, Netflix this spring will start a three-year rights deal with MLB, beginning with a March 25 opening-night game between the Yankees and Giants and including other key events such as the Home Run Derby and the 2026 Field of Dreams game. 

In an earnings report last week, Netflix also said in a letter to shareholders that live events such as the NFL games drove “disproportionate excitement and signups” for the service during 2025’s fourth quarter. 

“We’re starting to see benefits to retention, too,” from live events, particularly in sports, said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in an earnings call.

Skyscraper Live was also the Netflix debut of newly added talent Elle Duncan, who joined the company after a celebrated stint at ESPN. 

Brooks Koepka said he’s still nervous for his first event back on the PGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open—which tees off Thursday—and that while he’s grateful for the opportunity to return so quickly from LIV Golf, he doesn’t regret leaving the PGA Tour back in 2022.

“I don’t regret anything I do,” Koepka said during his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday at Torrey Pines Golf Course in Southern California. “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve always enjoyed the ride no matter where I’m at. You also learn from anything you’re doing, so I have no regrets. But at the same time, I’m excited for this new chapter, grateful to be out here.”

Koepka signed a five-year contract with LIV in 2022 that he previously said was worth more than $100 million. He won the 2023 PGA Championship during his second year on LIV, and earned $38.3 million in individual prize and bonus money during his four seasons at LIV.

Koepka, who was released from his LIV contract on Dec. 23 and had his PGA Tour membership reinstated on Jan. 13, said he had no assurances that his return would happen so fast.

“I knew that I wanted to come out and see how things would fall,” Koepka said. “I did not know that I was going to be coming back this quickly. Obviously the decisions that [PGA Tour CEO] Brian [Rolapp] and everybody made, we’re super grateful for them. I’m happy that it was this quick, but I was prepared for whatever they were going to ask or they were going to tell me.”

After officially leaving LIV, Koepka said his first call was to Tiger Woods, who is the chairman of the PGA Tour’s new Future Competition Committee. That led to the creation of the PGA Tour’s “Returning Member Program,” which LIV stars Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cam Smith are eligible for. But Koepka doesn’t have any predictions on whether anyone else will join him. “I’m two days back into this,” he said. “I’m not trying to get into the politics of it all.”

Koepka’s last PGA Tour event was in March 2022. “I think it feels a little bit different,” he said. “I’m definitely a little bit more nervous this week just coming back. But it feels good.”

ESPN, CBS Ready for Koepka

As part of Koepka’s return, ESPN will air first- and second-round coverage of the Farmers Insurance Open from noon to 3 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday, marking the first time in nearly 20 years that its flagship channel will offer live coverage of a standard PGA Tour event. Typically, ESPN+ airs morning and early-afternoon coverage of PGA Tour events before Golf Channel’s broadcast starts later in the day.

CBS, which begins its 2026 PGA Tour schedule with third- and final-round coverage on Saturday and Sunday, will have to wait to see whether Koepka makes the 36-hole cut, and if so, whether he’s near the top of the leaderboard.

“It’s absolutely been the story of the year so far,” CBS lead golf analyst Trevor Immelman said Tuesday on a media call. “It’s something that we at CBS are extremely excited about, with him kicking off his return at an event where we start our season. So, that’s going to be a lot of fun. Just how he plays, to me, is so up in the air—and maybe that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about it.”