Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2025
The wait is lastly over. After a three-year hiatus, the Hawkins gang is again for his or her remaining bow, with Quantity 1 of Stranger Issues season 5 lastly dropping on Netflix globally this previous Thanksgiving Eve. With the split-release technique in full impact and anticipation at an all-time excessive, the massive query wasn’t if the present could be primary, however simply what number of information it will shatter. Now that the primary batch of viewing figures is in, let’s dive into the information to see how the ultimate season’s debut compares to season 4 and Netflix’s all-time heavyweights like Wednesday and Squid Sport.
OK, what are the headline figures:
- Debuted #1 TV present for the interval 11/24/25 – 11/30/25
- Hours Watched Globally: 284.2M
- Views: 59.6M views
So, sure, large numbers. Are the massive numbers a giant shock? Probably not. That is simply the TV occasion of the 12 months, if not in Netflix’s historical past. Between the worldwide publicity tour, model offers with anybody who would say sure, and the rising anticipation over the previous three years, after manufacturing delays, it’s protected to say audiences have been properly and really primed for the brand new season.
How Stranger Issues Season 5 Compares To Different Launches
One other caveat we have to add when evaluating it to different exhibits is that Stranger Issues S5 had an uncommon launch time, choosing a primetime US launch, so it didn’t drop on the conventional time of most different Netflix Originals. Meaning this isn’t fairly a Wednesday launch, and it’s definitely not a full Thursday launch both.
On condition that Stranger Issues is a break up season, that does complicate issues, provided that we’ve solely had half the general runtime, and this may work within the present’s favor in comparison with exhibits that launched in full (like Wednesday season 1, as an illustration). So for readability’s sake, right here’s the identical graph however utilizing the pure hours metric over the views metric:
How about evaluating straight with Stranger Issues 4? Properly, season 4’s first quantity dropped on a Friday, which means season 5 has had an additional day (and a bit) to choose up viewership, which is why it’s not honest to do a direct apples-to-apples comparability this early. That mentioned, we will probably be protecting an in depth eye on the trajectory vs season 4 within the weeks to return. Right here’s the way it seems to be to this point, evaluating the pure viewing hours.
Given the break up season, you may see how season 4 had an enormous soar in viewing hours in week 6 (rising 292% from week 5).
Observe all of Netflix’s high 10 knowledge for Stranger Issues right here.
Stranger Issues Tops Charts In All However Two International locations
Lastly, we wished to the touch on the truth that whereas Stranger Issues is a behemoth, it’s not fairly the number one present on Netflix globally. As we’ve been monitoring since launch by way of FlixPatrol, the present has been #1 in 91 international locations out of the 93 they observe, with two notable holdouts: South Korea and Japan.
In Japan, the sequence debuted second within the day by day TV high 10s behind Scandal Eve. It topped the charts on Saturday however has since dropped to #2, the place it now sits at #5.
South Korea is a fair larger holdout. It debuted at #6, rose to #5 for the subsequent two days, and has sunk once more to #6 and now #7. What’s been forward of it? Taxi Driver, The Dream Lifetime of Mr. Kim, Three Idiots in Kenya, Storm Household, 갱단과의 전쟁, and Dynamite Kiss.
Lastly, a number of different metrics, you may see that on Google Tendencies, search curiosity virtually ranges off, virtually rivaling season 4, with it at present monitoring at 95.
TikTok’s knowledge (which is a little bit of a black field and arduous to trace) over the past 30 days, you may see the present is now peaking on the primary #StrangerThings hashtag, with over 1 million posts. We’ll control how this graph evolves within the weeks to return:
Image Credit score: Tiktok Advert Heart
And lastly, whereas with regards to Stranger Issues, we simply wished to level out how there’s been a gradual improve in views for all prior seasons within the run-up to season 5, courtesy of the Netflix Engagement Studies.
After a notable viewership dip in late 2023, previous seasons Stranger Issues staged a stable restoration because the first half of 2024, posting double-digit proportion development in viewing hours throughout all 4 seasons. Season 1 and Season 3 had been notably sturdy, seeing will increase of round 17% to 19%, which helped propel the primary season up practically 40 spots within the rankings. Nonetheless, this preliminary momentum leveled off considerably throughout the second half of 2024, which served largely as a stabilization interval; Seasons 1 via 3 noticed solely marginal development of roughly 2% to three%, whereas Season 4 remained just about flat, holding regular at 8.4 million views.
The pattern shifted dramatically within the first half of 2025, which represents essentially the most vital interval of development in the complete dataset. Viewership surged by roughly 23% to 30% for each season, driving numbers to their absolute highest factors within the recorded timeframe—Season 4 alone reached a peak of 135.5 million hours seen. This huge spike suggests a renewed wave of world curiosity, presumably pushed by new viewers or a collective re-watch, pushing Season 1 into the highest 100 rankings (Rank #78) and cementing early 2025 because the franchise’s peak efficiency window from out there knowledge.
How do you suppose Stranger Issues did in its first week? Tell us within the feedback down beneath.
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