Nielsen Ratings Reveal STRANGER THINGS Was Last Year's Most Watched Netflix Premiere By A Large Margin

Nielsen has revealed their SVOD numbers for 2017, which account for all the streaming data gathered from streaming done on Roku, Apple TV, Smart TV's, and video game consoles (75% of streaming overall). Unsurprisingly, Stranger Things Season 2 led the pack with the most premiere day streams, although their wide margin of viewership compared to other Netflix originals might be the most staggering. 

The first day of Stranger Things Season 2 saw 25 million subscribers streaming the first two episodes, with The Defenders following behind it with a drastically smaller number around 10 million (via Adweek).

Now, just because 25 million people tuned in the first day of the season doesn't mean all 25 million finished, but the fact that Netflix is pulling that kind of viewership with one show is a testament to the power of streaming and why everyone else is desperately trying to claw their way into it. Just as a frame of reference, those premiere numbers would rank the Stranger Things Season 2 premiere in the number 9 spot of the most-watched programs of 2017 on television. The highest any traditional program got on that list that year was the 28th spot and it was The Big Bang Theory. So yeah, that's impressive.