A fifth of UK Netflix subscribers watched Stranger Things in the first week of its series two launch, new YouGov research shows.
The research indicates that of the 6.5 million UK Netflix subscribers, 1.3 million tuned into the programme – either to watch the first series, or view the new episodes.
Of course, Netflix dedicated a generous proportion of its marketing budget to promoting the series which was in turn supplemented by a healthy dose of word of mouth hype. This is reflected in the figures which indicate how viewership of Stranger Things outshone other titles on the platform. Rick and Morty is the series with the closest viewership with 6% of subscribers, ahead of Orange is the New Black (4%).
The series has been praised for its drama and addictive nature, something borne out by those “binge viewing” (watching more than one episode in a sitting). Over a third (36%) saw one episode, while 25% viewed two, 12% got through three and 10% managed to watched 8+ (or all or almost a whole series).
Our research also finds that that viewers are enjoying the show. Over four in ten (44%) of those that watched Stranger Things would rate it as 10 out of 10, while 22% give it 9/10 and 8% marking it as 8/10.
This suggests that Netflix’s emphasis on commissioning original content is continuing to pay dividends. Additional YouGov data indicates that over half (54%) of Netflix subscribers first joined the service in order to access original content – 37% say it was to watch a specific TV series/programme and 28% said it was in order to watch a back catalogue of a TV series.
Netflix has once again managed to produce original content which has coupled viewer excitement with word of mouth recommendations. It’s clear that a sizeable percentage of existing subscribers were eager to view the show, helping to justify Netflix’s output strategy.
Image IMDb
