Stranger Things captured the attention of the world on New Year’s Eve, through a series finale that proved appointment TV might not be dead after all.
Netflix has been disrupting the entertainment industry ever since the company mailed its first film.
The company initially helped wipe out video stores, and has had the major movie and TV studios looking over their collective shoulders since pivoting to streaming.
Netflix fundamentally changed the way we consume films and shows, but one innovation has had both a positive and negative effect on viewership, as underlined by the climax of Stranger Things.
How Netflix changed television
Traditional network television gave us “event TV,” when a show aired at the same time on the same day so all of America could watch pretty much simultaneously (depending on where you lived).
That resulted in 76 million people viewing the Seinfeld finale, 80 million watching the final Friends, and an incredible $106 million tuning in for the last M*A*S*H; occasions when the country created collective memories through the tube.
Netflix took a different approach to broadcasting, however, dropping entire seasons in one go. Early efforts like House of Cards helped create the “binge” model, whereby you could watch an entire series in one day, should you have both the desire and the stamina.
Viewers clearly loved it, and bingeing helped turn Netflix into the monster success it now is, with streaming competitors soon springing up, and following suit.
But it also created a problem, as when watching a show at your own pace, it was impossible to have those “water-cooler” conversations where everyone discusses TV’s most memorable moments at the same time. While it also had us running for cover from spoilers if we aren’t bang up-to-date with a show.
When asked about the binge model vs episodic in 2023, Bela Bajaria – Chief Content Officer at Netflix – said: “There is no data to support that weekly is better, and it’s not a great consumer experience.”
But since then, the streamer has increasingly split seasons in two, sometimes because of external factors like the global shutdown or the writer and actor strikes. But also because creators of shows like Bridgeton and The Crown have requested it.
When asked about the so-called “hybrid” approach at the start of 2025, Bajaria was more equivocal, stating: “There’s no set way, it depends on what’s best for the show.”
Stranger Things delivered the shared TV experience that streaming forgot
Which brings us to Stranger Things, where the final season has been divided into three chunks. Volume 1 dropped during Thanksgiving, and Volume 2 arrived over the Christmas period.
Volume 3 – which simply consists of the single, final episode – arrived on New Year’s Eve, and took streaming back to basics by making the feature-length instalment appointment TV.
Literally, in fact. I’ve got friends and work colleagues who cancelled New Year plans so they could watch the climax the moment it dropped, and share in that communal experience, whether it be through social media, or with their Stranger Things buddies in real life.
Stranger Things fans have one major complaint about the Season 5 finale