Netflix’s popular supernatural drama Stranger Things released its fourth season on Friday, July 1st, and since then, the network has seen a decrease in the number of subscribers lost. As of Netflix’s second 2022 quarter earnings released on July 19th, 2022, there has been a loss of about one million subscribers between April 1st and June 30th, according to Comicbook. 

The CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings (net worth of 2.4 billion USD), stated that Netflix credits Stranger Things for decreasing the loss of subscribers that the network could’ve experienced, “losing 1 million instead of 2 million,” via Comicbook. This statement comes with the release of season four of Stranger Things bringing in 1.27 billion hours of viewing on the network.

Since Netflix released Stranger Things in July of 2016, the series has gained a loyal audience of viewers who anticipate the show’s next season to be released. However, due to the series’ cast being of a young age when filming first began, there were regulations on how long the cast could shoot. Combined with the special effects necessary to produce the series as seen, it takes a substantial amount of time for the series to be broadcasted on Netflix. 

Alongside the time already averaged for the series to complete production, the recent pandemic only increased that time frame. Filming with a young cast in the size and scope of the production that Stranger Things needs, the pandemic caused major stalls and shutdowns for the cast and crew, according to Comicbook. 

Everything that adds to the increments of Stranger Things being released in prolonged settings builds the anticipation that creates a trusted viewer audience. Those who engage in viewing Stranger Things are usually left on cliffhangers, as seen in previous season finales. This keeps viewers interested in what will happen next with the main characters’ lives in Hawkins. The series has also gotten viewers invested in the lives of the main actors, such as Millie Bobby Brown (Enola Homes) and Noah Schnapp (Abe), allowing viewers to engage in even more promotions for the series. 

Since Stranger Things has built a dependable audience, those viewers wouldn’t want to cancel their Netflix subscription since that is where the supernatural drama is streamed. Viewers will wait for the next episodes to be released since they are in long increments that prolong their subscription to the Netflix platform. Overall, allowing Netflix to keep gaining revenue from dedicated viewers. 

Although Stranger Things may not be the only series with a dedicated viewer audience, they are one of the more popular Netflix original series that keep subscribers around.