Nielsen Claims Stranger Things 2 Beat Out The Walking Dead in Ratings

Netflix ratings may be the most tightly kept secret in TV, but Nielsen has recently released an SVOD (Streaming or Subscription Video on Demand) measurement that peels the curtain back a little.

According to Nielsen, approximately 15.8 million people streamed the premiere of Stranger Things 2 within three days of it dropping on Netflix. Of those viewers, 11 million of them were in the 18-49 demo that advertisers care about when measuring broadcast ratings (and here's your reminder that Netflix is subscription-based and doesn't have ads). Nielsen also claims that 361,000 subscribers streamed the entire nine-episode season of Stranger Things 2 within 24 hours of its release.

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If these numbers are correct, that would mean Stranger Things 2 outperformed heavyweight champ The Walking Dead, which pulled in 11.4 million viewers for its Season 8 premiere almost a week earlier. Stranger Things 2 ratings are also just shy of matching Game of Thrones' Season 7 premiere, which broke records with 16.1 million viewers tuning in.

Netflix has, of course, stayed silent about these numbers, choosing neither to confirm nor deny them.

Stranger Things 2 is now streaming on Netflix.