Highlights of history

  • Nielsen said the third season of "Stranger Things" was watched by a record 26.4 million US viewers over the four-day holiday weekend of July 4th.
  • Netflix has revealed its own data continuously on the series, indicating that more than 40.7 million household accounts in the world had watched the show over the weekend.
  • Nielsen reported that 824,000 US viewers had completed all eight episodes of the series on the first day.

A record 26.4 million US viewers watched the third season of Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things" during the July 4th holiday weekend, about 17% more than the start of the season. season two, according to Nielsen.

"Compared to the second season," Stranger Things 3 "was an even bigger success," said Nielsen in a press release. "Not only has its audience increased over the previous season, but it's also the most watched Netflix original series we've ever analyzed. The release of the season on the long holiday weekend proved fruitful, as viewers were able to enjoy their free time and dive back into the most recent episodes of the cultural phenomenon. "

The data and measurement company said that nearly 824,000 US viewers had completed all eight episodes of the series when it was released on July 4th.

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Nielsen launched its subscription-based video-on-demand ratings in 2017 to better measure streaming content by subscription. The company uses proprietary demographic and household data from its national television panel to identify streaming programs.

As more and more companies such as Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Media launch their own streaming services, this data will likely become the means by which analysts compare different platforms.

Earlier this week, Netflix revealed its own data continuously on the series, claiming that more than 40.7 million household accounts had watched the show over the weekend, with most of the films or series being shown. on the site during its first four days. In addition, 18.2 million people worldwide had already completed the entire third season during this period.

Netflix has nearly 150 million subscribers, which means that about a quarter of this global audience has decided to watch "Stranger Things" during its first four days on the platform. This seems to be a high number, but how does this compare to other streaming service programs?

In December, Nielsen revealed the top 20 most-watched shows on Netflix. Six were Netflix Originals, but only one of them actually belongs to the company. "Stranger Things" was not on this list.

Netflix has always been discreet about its number of viewers. When the company offers data, it usually boasts of a particular show or movie. However, with such a limited collection of information, it is difficult to make comparisons with other programs on its platform and with rivals.

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For example, the latest episode of HBO's Game of Thrones recorded a record 19.3 million television series in a single night. This includes the 13.6 million people who watched it live on television during its first broadcast. The others are those who watched the reminder presentation later in the night or watched the episode on one of HBO's streaming platforms instead of television.

It's hard to compare HBO, which leaks information on a single night of viewers, and broadcasts episodes weekly, to Netflix, which broadcasts all of its episodes at a time and shares its audience over time.

Nevertheless, the large number of viewers in the third season of "Stranger Things" would have guaranteed a fourth season, if Netflix had not already lit the green light. Executive producer Shawn Levy said that there would definitely be a fourth season, with the possibility of a fifth.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

© CNBC is a USA TODAY Content Partner providing financial information and feedback. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

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