Netflix has announced that Stranger Things 4the fourth installment of its well-known series, has been viewed for more than a billion hours among all the users it has on the face of the Earth.
The number of hours that Stranger Things 4 has been played has been counted with Netflix’s own measurement tools. The company has said that, during the first 28 days, episodes 1 to 7 have been viewed for around 930.32 million hours, while episodes 8 and 9, of which only the days from the June 27 to July 3, some 221 million hours have been viewed, giving a total of approximately 1.15 billion hours.
These data make Stranger Things 4 the second best Netflix premiere, only surpassed by The Squid Game, which at the time accumulated some 1,650 million hours during its first 28 days as content available on the platform. Since Stranger Things 4 episodes 8 and 9 were released not too long ago, it’s likely that it will end up beating the Korean-based series in new measurements.
Whether or not Stranger Things 4 beats The Squid Game, it is undeniable that it has been a success at least seeing the numbers published by Netflix. On the other hand, it is no secret that Stranger Things has been and is one of the company’s greatest successes, being in some places a phenomenon strong enough to lead to other types of content that can be found on platforms such as Spotify.
Is Netflix turning into a puffer fish?
Whether or not the data published by Netflix is true, the surprising thing would be that a series with as many followers as Stranger Things was not a success. However, one can’t help but think that the company may be needing to become a puffer fish to take on rivals backed by much larger corporations.
The puffer fish has the ability to swell with water or air to increase its size and thus avoid being eaten by a predator. Netflix could find itself in a similar situation from a few months ago because for the first time in its history it had lost subscribers instead of gaining them. Circumstances such as a fragmented market with too many options and that the average quality of Netflix content is clearly below that shown in Stranger Things have been able to weigh here.
Given the new scenario, Netflix has decided to bet on cheaper plans and with ads, a movement that we will see in the near future if it has given positive results.
