Nielsen Confirms 'Stranger Things 3' Really Was a Big Hit
Yes, all the people watched "Stranger Things 3" over the July 4 holiday weekend.
Netflix claimed the show broke viewership records at the streaming service, tweeting, "40.7 million household accounts have been watching the show since its July 4 global launch — more than any other film or series in its first four days." But there's no way to verify Netflix's data.
Now, Nielsen is stepping in to confirm the boast with its streaming video on demand ratings. The eight episodes of "Stranger Things 3" had average minute audience — the closest thing to linear TV average viewership — of 12.8 million viewers over its first four days of release.
That represents a 21 percent increase over the same time period after the release of Season 2 in October 2017 (10.6 million viewers).
The first episode was watched by 19.17 million viewers in the first four days, and six of the eight episodes passed 10 million viewers over the long weekend. The least-watched episode was number seven, "The Bite."
Some 824,000 people binged the entire season on the day of the premiere, up from 361,000 for the first day of Season 2 (though that was not a holiday).
Nielsen's SVOD ratings measure viewing only on TV sets only, so they don't take into account people who watch on other devices or viewers in other countries.