(UTV | KOREA) – Even with big advantages in terms of episode runtime and a split season allowing for a double count, the recent fourth season of “Stranger Things” still couldn’t quite beat “Squid Game” as Netflix’s most popular season of television ever.
The streaming giant calculates a show’s popularity based on hours viewed during a title’s first 28 days of availability. “Stranger Things” saw a segmented release with the season split into two volumes launched a month-and-a-half apart.
As a result, Netflix has added the first 28 days of viewing stats of first volume episodes with the first 28 days of viewing stats of second volume episodes. Add to this, the new season boasted a considerable 13-hour runtime, and it comes as little surprise that the fourth season’s final count came in at a gargantuan 1.4 billion hours viewed.
That figure, however, failed to pass the 1.7 billion hours viewed of “Squid Game” in its first 28 days – and that’s despite a considerably shorter runtime for the South Korean smash hit (eight hours), which is still the reigning champ.