Netflix’s Stranger Things 4 sets new Nielsen streaming record by surpassing 7 billion minutes of viewing time in the U. S.

Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things has scored another record with its fourth season by surpassing 7 billion minutes of viewing time in the United States for the week of May 30-June 5.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stranger Things amassed 7.2 billion minutes of viewing time for the week of May 30-June 5, as reported by Nielsen, the highest weekly total for any streaming title since the advent of weekly rankings almost two years ago. It also has the biggest two-week tally for any streaming show.

In the week of May 23-29, when season four of Stranger Things premiered, it had 5.14 billion minutes of viewing for a two-week total of 12.34 billion minutes. The report further notes that no streaming show measured by Nielsen had ever reached 6 billion minutes in a single week, let alone 7 billion. Only Tiger King (twice) and Ozark in the spring of 2020 — amid pandemic lockdowns — had topped 5 billion minutes prior to Stranger Things.

Nielsen includes all seasons of a show when calculating its streaming rankings, although it's likely that the seven episodes of season four that debuted on May 27 accounted for the great majority of the 7.2 billion minutes. The ratings service had previously noted that more than 75 percent of the show’s 5.14 billion minutes the week of May 23-29 came from season four. The Season 4 episodes premiered on May 27, as did Star Wars spinoff Obi-Wan Kenobi. The two titles already had been identified as breakthrough originals in a stand-alone Nielsen report last month.

Previously, the record-breaking show also becomes the most watched English language series on Netflix, per the company’s internal metrics. The streamer says its subscribers have watched more than 930 million hours worldwide over season four’s first 28 days.

Nielsen’s streaming ratings cover viewing on TV sets only and don’t include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices. The ratings only measure U.S. audiences, not those in other countries, and currently only include Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.

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