Stranger Things Season 5 Smashes All-Time Streaming Record Ahead Of Volume 2 Release

by

Even before the final episodes are released, the new season of Stranger Things has broken a streaming record. The first part of the season, with four episodes, premiered on November 26th and immediately became the most-watched show on Netflix.

Nielsen reports that the premiere week of Stranger Things (November 24-30) drew a massive 8.46 billion minutes of viewing time. This is a new record for any streaming show, exceeding the previous record by over a billion minutes. Stranger Things previously held the record with 7.2 billion minutes watched after the season 4 premiere in 2022.

Nielsen’s reports don’t break down viewership by season, but they confirmed that season 5, volume 1 accounted for 57% of the total 8.46 billion minutes watched.

There are some key differences between the releases of volume 1 in seasons 4 and 5. Season 4 initially had seven episodes, whereas season 5 only had four. Also, season 4 premiered on a Friday at 3am Eastern Time, but season 5 launched on a Wednesday at 8pm Eastern Time.

Although the first part of Stranger Things season 5 launched at a good time to attract initial viewers, it had three fewer episodes than previous seasons. This makes its record-breaking viewership numbers even more remarkable. Unlike season 4, which took a full week to reach its milestones, season 5 achieved them much faster.

Releasing the first episodes of season 5 during Thanksgiving week was a smart move, and it’s expected to keep performing well with the remaining episodes also launching during the holidays. Volume 2, consisting of episodes 5 through 7, will be available on December 25th, and the final episode, volume 3, will release on December 31st – both at 8 PM Eastern Time.

The first part of Stranger Things season 5 ended with a lot of suspenseful moments. We learned Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) has powers connected to Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) mind, Kali Prasad/Eight (Linnea Berthelsen) made a comeback after being absent since season 2, and Vecna abducted Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly) along with other children he was after.

After a long wait following season 4 and another month of anticipation since the latest cliffhanger, the new episodes of Stranger Things are expected to be hugely popular. They could even become the show’s most-watched episodes ever.

Read More

2025-12-23 03:48