Stranger Things Season 3 Breaks Netflix Viewership Record
There’s nothing strange about the number of people watching the new season of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
The streaming giant released viewer data for the third season of the science fiction series, revealing that 40.7 million member accounts tuned in over the four days to watch a portion of the show since it was released. The show’s Fourth of July global debut now boasts the biggest viewership number for a Netflix original series or film in it’s first days.
And that’s just the people who watched at least 70 percent of one episode (Netflix’s barometer as a “view”).
Those who have already binged all 8-episodes of the season? That would be 18.2 million member households.
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.@Stranger_Things 3 is breaking Netflix records!
40.7 million household accounts have been watching the show since its July 4 global launch — more than any other film or series in its first four days. And 18.2 million have already finished the entire season.— Netflix US (@netflix) July 8, 2019
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Netflix rarely shares viewership numbers for its films and series, usually keeping those statistics — especially the total number of viewers or average audience for a given episode — private. But according to the Hollywood Reporter, Stranger Things‘ numbers are big by comparison to some of its other hit shows.
Back in April, Netflix said The Umbrella Academy was viewed in 45 million member households in one month, THR reported. In January, the company said You and Sex Education racked up 40 million views in their first months.
Over the course of a week in December, more than 45 million accounts watched the Sandra Bullock thriller Bird Box — the best first seven days for any Netflix film ever. And just last month, Netflix said over 30 million accounts watched the Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler comedy Murder Mystery in the first three days of its release — the “biggest opening weekend ever” for a Netflix original film.
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Season 3 of Stranger Things finds the gang back in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana with all of the original stars including Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp), Max (Sadie Sink), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), as well as Hopper (David Harbour), Joyce (Winona Ryder), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Nancy (Natalia Dyer). The Hawkins crew teams together once again to take down the evil Mind Flayer after it begins possessing the residents of the fictional rural town in the summer of 1985.
Fans and critics alike have praised the season, with PEOPLE’s own, Tom Gliatto, calling it, “a very satisfying season — better than Stranger Things 2 — with a long, roaring climax that’s both funny and moving.”
Stranger Things season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
