According to Netflix, Stranger Things 3 smashed the streaming giant’s previous ratings record, with over 40 million households streaming the 80s-tastic adventures of Eleven and friends since the July 4 season premiere.
- Over 18 million (or about 45%) of the households streaming Stranger Things 3 completed the eight-episode season in the same four-day period.
- The previous record holder was Murder Mystery, an Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston comedy, with over 30 million households streaming during its June opening weekend.
- Netflix’s ratings are voluntarily reported by the company and not available to Nielsen or other traditional third-party audience measurers. Meaning there’s no additional, outside verification of Netflix ratings.
- Although Netflix reigned supreme for years in entertainment streaming, competition from Hulu, Amazon, YouTube and others will crowd the playing field and potentially curb subscriber growth across the board, according to The Street.
- Stranger Things 3 is a proven cash cow for Netflix. In addition to beating streaming records, the latest season boasted 75 different product tie-ins as brands jockey for association (and dollars) with hot entertainment properties.
What to watch for: Disney. The House of Mouse, with its 2017, $53 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, controls a wide swath of successful intellectual property outside of princesses and anthropomorphic animals: Star Wars, Avatar, The Simpsons, Marvel superheroes, Pixar and more are under its purview. Which means Disney may be the biggest media empire in history. Combined with having full control of Hulu and the scheduled November launch of Disney+, its own streaming service (targeted to cost half of a monthly Netflix subscription), Disney is poised to steal Netflix’s streaming spotlight.
-Lisette Voytko; Forbes Staff