“Stranger Things” surpasses “Obi-Wan Kenobi” in Showdown streaming, recording biggest US debut since March 2020, says Nielsen

The latest batch of episodes Strange thingsWhich arrived on Netflix the same day. Obi van Kenobi According to Nielsen, the premiere took place on Disney +, giving the show 5.1 billion minutes of streaming in the US for the first three days.

obi wan, with fewer and shorter episodes, it had a more modest run time of around a billion minutes. However, its debut was the biggest for Disney + and it went down in history as the first non-theatrical title to watch a billion minutes in its first week. (wonderful series Loki It hit that limit, but only after a few episodes went into circulation.)

The numbers were recorded from 23 to 29 May of the week. The series premiered on May 27, the start of the long Memorial Day weekend. Top Gun: Maverick He was also making his theatrical bow. Nielsen released data for the two series today, which deviates from the normal delivery pace of streaming stats about a month after the fact, and usually Thursday. Netflix, which posted its top 10 weekly charts for dozens of countries, has already anointed the latest Strange things outing as his biggest English series.

Season 4 Launch Strange things It’s stuck, with the first seven episodes coming out in May and the last two coming out in July. Nielsen said the show is only the third title to require 5 billion minutes of weekly views, ranking third after Pandemic Lovers. king tiger5.3 billion e Ozark, 5.2 billion. These records were set in March 2020 during the intensity of the anticipated Covid blockade as Netflix subscriber levels exploded.

4 episodes of the current season Strange things According to Nielsen, from 5.1 billion minutes to 4 billion.

Even in the case of a split core sample, a notable variation on Bing’s release model that defines Netflix, comparing the two series is a difficult process. It should also be noted that the most important statistics in the general competition of flows are those relating to the level of subscribers and the average revenue per user. In the era of traditional media, late night linear valuations or weekend cash registers were considered universal indicators of expected financial results (as they were limited). In the age of streaming, individual titles matter a lot in terms of whether or not users want to subscribe to a service or extend watch time.

Total minutes available, Strange things It has 32 episodes of its entire series, compared to just the first two. obi wan. (Disney is basically based on the more traditional one- or two-episode release model and many of its Marvel and Star Wars Spinoffs have cheaper working hours, which is another downside to Nielsen’s metric overview.

To create a more effective initial comparison, Nielsen highlighted each season’s debut episode performance on relevant streaming services. (See diagrams below). Through this lens, watch the first episode of Friday Obi van Kenobi I saw 4% more viewers than in Strange things6.2 million viewers against 6 million. (Disney also changed the show’s live broadcast schedule from the usual Friday.)

However, for a full three-day weekend, first Strange things the episode was over obi wan12.7 million viewers to 11.2 million.

Nielsen has been monitoring weekly streaming in the US since 2020 and now controls five services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV +, Disney +, and Hulu. Other new players like HBO Max, Peacock and Paramount + are not included in the weekly editions.

Both Netflix and Disney are hungry for new hits as they struggle to stream. After two consecutive weak quarters, including an April report on the loss of its first subscriber in more than a decade last April and a gloomy outlook for the current quarter, Netflix’s share price has lost more than two-thirds of its share price. value. Disney shares have also been under pressure, despite a massive recovery in its theme park business, and Wall Street is now critically examining streaming.