Stranger Things 4 surpasses one billion hours viewed for Netflix

Netflix has revealed that sci-fi hit series Stranger Things 4 has surpassed one billion hours viewed, making it only the second show on the streamer to do so.

The series, which returned on July 1 for the final two episodes of season 4, attracted a total of 301.28 million hours viewed during the past weekend. The show appeared in the Top 10 in 93 countries during the week of June 27, Netflix said. 

Furthermore, Netflix revealed that since the first part of season 4 dropped on May 27, users have spent a total of 1.15 billion hours watching those nine episodes alone. 

The rising tide has also seen seasons 1-3 be revisited, with each season attracting more than 30 million hours viewed this week. 

Despite these astronomical viewing figures (arguably elevated by the fact that the season is so long with only one episode running at under 75 minutes), Stranger Things 4 still has a bit of a way to go in order to overtake Squid Game as the most-watched Netflix season ever. The show, which can only be described akin to lightning in a bottle, swept the world despite minimal advertising thanks to word-of-mouth. It was consumed for 1.65 billion during the first month of viewing in late 2021. 

Netflix will no longer count the viewing figures for the first part of volume 4, but the Stranger Things creative crew will be confident that the final two episodes – which have a cumulative run time of almost 4 hours – will be able to propel it towards the Squid Game milestone.

One thing for certain is that Stranger Things 4 is clearly the most popular English-language Netflix original to date based on the first 28 days of viewing, with its total almost double that of Bridgerton‘s second season (which was viewed for 656 million hours during the same window).