Netflix announced earlier today that creators Matt and Ross Duffer's Stranger Things 5, more specifically the first volume of the streamer's popular series' fifth and final season, has amassed 59.6 million views over the initial five days of its release. Calling it the world's Number One show, the streamer disclosed that Stranger Things season 5 "boasts the biggest premiere week ever for an English language show in the history of Netflix". Overall, the distinction of being the most-viewed Netflix show in its opening week still remains with the sensational Korean show Squid Game. The second and third seasons of Squid Game garnered more views in its premiere week as compared to the Stranger Things finale.
Netflix released Stranger Things 5 Volume 1 last week, and it opened to generally positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike. In our Stranger Things 5 review, Jayabhuvaneshwari B wrote, "Even when the story slips, the nostalgia grabs hold. Hawkins keeps pulling us in with its retro charm, raw emotions and final flickers of mystery."
The aforementioned numbers serve as an encouraging sign for Netflix as the latest instalment in the Stranger Things franchise has garnered more views as compared to the fourth one. Stranger Things season 4 gained a stream time of 287 million hours in its opening week. Back then, Netflix used to measure viewership in terms of stream time, but the aforementioned numbers for Stranger Things season 4 would translate to around 22 million views.
At the time of its release, the sheer number of viewers flooding into the streaming platform to watch the latest instalment in the show caused it to temporarily crash, even as the service provided raised bandwidth to prevent the same scenario.
Stranger Things 5 is also set to have a limited theatrical release later this year. Meanwhile, the fifth season's second and third volumes are set to release on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, respectively.
