Stranger Things returned last week after a more than three-year hiatus. Judging by the streaming numbers, fans of the science fiction horror series were anxiously awaiting its return.
The first four episodes of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things were released on Nov. 26. Viewership for the new installments has toppled multiple Netflix records, according to Variety.
Over 59 million views in less than one week
In its first five days of streaming, Stranger Things Season 5 earned 59.6 million views, a new high number for premiere-week viewership of an English-language Netflix series and the third-highest debut week viewership overall.
When the fourth season of Stranger Things was released in May 2022, it set a then-record with 287 million hours watched over opening weekend. At the time, Netflix measured viewership by streaming time, but those hours translate to around 22 million views, Variety notes.
Season 4 garnered those 22 million views over three days while Season 5 gobbled up almost 60 million over five, but you don’t need to be great at math to see the difference. That’s an average of just over seven million views per day in 2022 and roughly 12 million daily now, so it’s clear the anticipation for Season 5 was through the roof.
Another record eclipsed
From Nov. 24-30, all five seasons of Stranger Things charted on the Netflix Top 10, the first time any series has had five separate seasons break through the rankings.
The week before, the first four seasons of Stranger Things made the top 10 ahead of Season 5’s release, which at the time marked the first occasion in which a show had four different seasons on the list.
What’s next for ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5?
Three more episodes–“Chapter Five: Shock Jock,” “Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz,” and “Chapter Seven: The Bridge”–will be released on Christmas Day, and will likely make their own viewership history.
The series finale, “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up,” will drop on New Year’s Eve.
Currently, Stranger Things Season 5 has an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Co-creator shares viewing advice for fans
Prior to the release of the first portion of Season 5, Stranger Things co-creator Ross Duffer urged fans to examine their television settings to make sure they could watch the show optimally.
“A little PSA before you watch tonight. I just want to make sure that your TVs are set up properly,” Duffer said in an Instagram video.
“You’re going to have to go into settings…you’re going to go into picture mode settings. [Mine is] expert controls, but it could be different depending on the TV. They have a bunch of crap in here that you’re gonna want to make sure is off. Dynamic contrast? Garbage, off. Super resolution? Garbage, off. Edge enhancer? Garbage, off. Color filter? Garbage, off.”
Duffer added that fans should turn off “noise reduction,” and TruMotion, which he called “the worst offender of all,” producing that “dreaded soap opera effect.”
Finally, Duffer says that viewers should avoid “anything called vivid” while watching.
