The release of the second part of the fourth season of Stranger Things has left Netflix broke, literally.
The final two episodes of the show’s fourth season hit the streaming giant at 8 am this morning (July 1), which is 3 am ET. At this very moment, Downdetector (opens in new tab)the go-to resource for all outages suffered by the world’s biggest websites, has seen a huge increase in reported problems accessing Netflix.
Nearly 15,000 complaints were filed on the site within minutes of Stranger Things’ release, with the majority of users complaining that the Netflix app was not working properly and wouldn’t let them watch the show.
Netflix, to its credit, appeared to resolve the issue quickly. 15 minutes later, complaints had dropped to just under 1,500, and 15 minutes later, complaints had hit 100 again, which is standard procedure for a platform with Netflix’s worldwide reach.
The speed of resolution didn’t stop users from complaining on social media, with the show’s final two episodes lasting nearly four hours, every minute was crucial.
vecna laughing at us because netflix crashed #StrangerThings #Netflix pic.twitter.com/a3WbOPDFtYJuly 1, 2022
This isn’t the first time the release of a series finale has caused problems on the streaming platform. HBO Max has experienced similar problems twice, first when it premiered the finale of Mare Of Easttown, then again with the final chapter of the second season of Euphoria.
We hope they are ready for the season finale of House Of The Dragon.
A release like no other?
Netflix is a pretty robust platform and rarely fails. It has to be when it’s in over 190 countries and debuting so much new content, so for the release of Stranger Things 4 Vol.2 to put so much pressure on its technical infrastructure is quite a thing.
This demand could not have come as a surprise to Netflix, however. The first seven episodes of the show’s fourth season racked up a staggering 930 million watch hours in its first 28 days on the platform, more than 270 million hours more than the previous record holder, Bridgerton’s second season.
All signs point to the second half of season four being another record.
If you plan on watching Stranger Things later today, you can catch up with all the information you need here in our guide. Stay tuned to , we’ll have a full report on the end of the program on the website later today.