MOVIE NEWS – Stranger Things returned with its fifth season and immediately delivered viewership figures that stand out even by Netflix standards. According to the latest Nielsen data, the sci-fi phenomenon amassed historic numbers within just a few days, while also driving renewed interest in earlier seasons. The results underline just how dominant the series remains in the global streaming landscape.

Netflix is no stranger to breaking its own records with major releases, whether films or television series, but the debut week of Stranger Things Season 5 appears to have raised the bar even further. The Nielsen report for the week of November 24 revealed that the series accumulated 8.46 billion viewing minutes, translating to roughly 140 million hours watched worldwide.

As highlighted by What’s on Netflix, Season 5 premiered on a Wednesday, meaning the data only reflects three and a half days of viewing and covers just the first four episodes. Nielsen estimates that the new season accounted for approximately 57 percent of total viewing hours, while the remaining 43 percent came from audiences revisiting Seasons 1 through 4. The overall total surpasses the previous record by more than one billion minutes, a milestone that had also been set by Stranger Things during the launch week of Season 4.

With the next batch of episodes arriving on Netflix on December 25 and the series finale scheduled for December 31, it would come as little surprise if the show continues to shatter additional records in the weeks ahead.

When Stranger Things first premiered on Netflix in 2016, it seemed to appear out of nowhere, driven by a cast of largely unknown young actors and creators Matt and Ross Duffer, who were far from household names at the time. Over the years, the series has evolved into one of the most popular television shows ever made, leaving a lasting imprint across pop culture.

For its first three seasons, Netflix released every episode at once, but Season 4 introduced a major shift in strategy. The first seven episodes debuted in May 2022, followed by the final two episodes in July. As the show’s popularity expanded, so did its episode runtimes, with the upcoming episodes all running longer than an hour and the series finale clocking in at two hours and eight minutes. One factor that could affect streaming totals, however, is that the finale will also screen in select theaters, diverting some viewing minutes away from streaming platforms.

Even as the core storyline moves toward its conclusion, Stranger Things is far from finished as a franchise. Its mythology has already expanded into a live stage production titled Stranger Things: The First Shadow, along with several spin-off comic books. An animated spin-off, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, is expected to arrive in 2026, while another live-action spin-off is currently in development, with official details still being kept under wraps.

Forrás: MovieWeb