Stranger Things S4 premiere breaks weekend viewership record for Netflix

(L-R) Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo in Stranger Things S4

Season four of Stranger Things racked up 286.8 million hours of viewing time in its first two days of release, making it the biggest premiere weekend ever for an English-language TV series on Netflix.

The period sci-fi show, which had not launched a new season since July 2019, was the most-watched show in 83 countries, according to the streaming giant’s internal measurement system.

Netflix released seven new episodes of the series on May 27, with a further two set to be released in July as the streamer continues to experiment with releasing strategies.

All previous seasons also climbed back into Netflix’s global top 10 chart, with season one claiming the third position with 38.05 million hours viewed, ahead of season three (fourth position with 24.3 million hours viewed) and season two (fifth position with 22.2 million hours viewed).

Also in Netflix’s weekly chart for English-language titles was The Lincoln Lawyer in second place (64.82 million) and Ozark season four in sixth place (21.9 million).

At the current rate, Stranger Things S4 could eclipse the second season of Bridgerton, which currently holds the viewership record for an English-language TV series, with 656.1 million hours viewed in its first 28 days on Netflix.

It still has some way to go to dethrone South Korean survival drama Squid Game, which racked up 1.65 billion hours of viewership during its first 28 days.

In addition to the Stranger Things TV series, Netflix has also released a pair of mobile games set in the world of the popular sci-fi show.