Stranger Things became one of the most popular shows ever since the first season dropped. When season 3 Stranger Things came, it broke all records on Netflix and became the most-watched season. But is Netflix hiding something?
Within days of its release, news of Stranger Things season 3 breaking records started pouring in. And now, Netflix made it live that Stranger Things season 3 is “the most-watched season to date,” with a whopping “64 million member households” streaming it within the first month of release.
Stranger Things 3 surpasses all Netflix streaming records
But is it as popular as Netflix claims it to be?
If we believe the online streaming platform, it sure is a big contributing factor in its third-quarter earnings.
How Netflix counts the views
The Stranger Things season 3 record sure sends a wave of thrill among fans who are eagerly waiting for season 4. But how Netflix collects these numbers isn’t very assuring. According to The Verge, “In the past, the company has said that it counts one view for a film such as Bird Box when a Netflix viewer’s account completes at least 70 percent of the film.”
“The logical leap would be to assume that Netflix counts a season being watched as one account completing at least 70 percent of every episode that season.” So, this sums up to somewhere around 5.5 episodes out of the eight in season 3.
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How Netflix ‘actually’ counts the views
While that would be a good way to count the views, Netflix does not really follow this. According to a report, there is a tiny footnote in the OTT platform’s fourth-quarter earnings letter to its shareholders (2018). The footnote in question states that for every series, “due to their highly variable length, we count a viewer if they substantially complete at least one episode (70 percent).”
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Yes, you read that right! In the case of a series, 70% of one episode is taken into account and counted as a view. Not 70% of the whole season (that is 5.5 episodes of Stranger Things season 3 were not watched to set the record).
The real numbers
There was an independent study that took place before Netflix disclosed Stranger Things season 3 getting closer to a record. The Nielsen independent study concluded that there were 26.4 million unique views in the US within first three days. On the other hand, Netflix claimed that the first four days bagged 40 million views globally.
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While we cannot validate Stranger Things season 3 record, we sure can validate the the season made fans cling to it till the end. It would have been pretty hard for someone to leave it after the first episode.
