The first season of the Duffer Brother’s Stranger Things slithered onto Netflix last July, absent much hype and lacking any real expectations. It became an overnight sensation, as we all know. While original content like Daredevil, Beasts of No Nation, and House of Cards had already established the streaming service’s creative chops, it was the Stranger Things phenomenon that really grabbed everyone’s attention (and apparently hasn’t let go).
Fifteen months later (give or take a few days) Stranger Things 2 dropped in its entirety, as Netflix is want to do. This time around the hype and expectation are off-the-charts. Fortunately, the second season builds on its first without falling into the trap of repeating itself — there are some repeated beats, but they’re generally in service to character, tone, and mood (we forgive you Duffer Brothers).
Related – Stranger Things 2 Episode 7 Had An Unexpected Inspiration
Fans and media alike have uniformly praised Stranger Things 2, and according to Variety a pretty large chunk of Netflix subscribers have already tuned in to watch. (I’m only halfway through, don’t spoil it!)
The Nielsen ratings folks posted some interesting data regarding Stranger Things 2 that you might find interesting:
- Episode 1 averaged 15.8 million viewers
- More than 4 million viewers watched each episode
- Over 360,000 people binged all 9 episodes
Now, here are the average number of viewers per episode:
- “Chapter One” ~ 15.8 million
- “Chapter Two” ~ 13.7 million
- “Chapter Three” ~ 11.6 million
- “Chapter Four” ~ 9.3 million
- “Chapter Five” ~ 8 million
- “Chapter Six” ~ 6.4 million
- “Chapter Seven” ~ 5.3 million
- “Chapter Eight” ~ 4.9 million
- “Chapter Nine” ~ 4.6 million
Those are some amazing numbers, but maybe not too surprising. Consider that in July 2016 Netflix had only 83 million subscribers worldwide (CNN reported that Netflix’s stock took a beating after coming in several million subscribers short of forecasts). However, Netflix recently reported over 105 million subscribers worldwide — a 21% jump. I’m not suggesting Stranger Things is the reason for this growth spurt, but Netflix sure enjoyed a major turnaround following the release of this show.
Not to throw cold water on Nielsen’s info, but let’s remember Netflix doesn’t share their viewing data; Nielsen uses a proprietary technology to determine up with their figures. Netflix subsequently released a statement to that effect:
“The data that Nielsen is reporting is not accurate, not even close, and does not reflect the viewing of these shows on Netflix.”
Sure, Netflix might simply be trolling Nielsen a little bit, but let’s remember that Nielsen built their business around knowing who, where, when, and how people watch TV. They’re the experts in this particular field.
Bottom line, Stranger Things 2 is another big hit for Netflix, which has already announced at least one more season of Stranger Things (Millie Bobby Brown, who plays 11/Jane, recently advocated for five seasons). So if you’re down with the Stranger Things kids dragging shadow monsters and demogorgons to a midwestern college dorm, Netflix probably has you covered.
How much of Stranger Things 2 have you watched? Let us know in the comments down below!
Stranger Things 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
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