'Stranger Things 4': A record-breaker already?

A few weeks ago, we did a post about Netflix—and, in particular, the shows and movies we all watch on the popular streaming service. Since then, “Stranger Things 4” dropped, and it’s already breaking records. So, we decided to take another look at our Netflix viewing habits, especially as they relate to the sci-fi horror series that may be as nostalgic as it is scary.

Let’s start with the numbers from the first week that “Stranger Things 4” was available. In the United States, one season or another of the series occupied four of the top five spots for TV shows, as people were obviously catching up on previous seasons before watching the new season. Globally, the series did well also, accounting for four of the top nine shows (including movies), as this chart illustrates:

The dashboard below offers more context around Netflix subscribers’ viewing habits. There’s plenty to explore. But before you dig in, a few things to note:

• The dashboard will update weekly as Netflix releases more data—and we will add more annotations to mark popular new releases. So, if you’re interested in this kind of stuff, do check back on occasion to see the latest. We will continually annotate the chart when a new series drops with a large following.
• The first week “Stranger Things 4” was available, it was only available for a few days—and like other TV shows the second week it was available outpaced the first, as people had more time to consume the entire season.
• While “Stranger Things 4” had a great first two weeks, globally it still trails the best weeks for “Squid Game 1” by a pretty wide margin—and has a long way to go if it is to claim the all-time top spot for hours viewed. It hasn’t had the initial velocity, so it will need to count on longevity to become #1.