Step aside, “The Walking Dead” — there’s new hugely rated content to contend with.
OK, so “Stranger Things” isn’t new new, but TheWrap just got the first taste of the Netflix’s thriller’s ready-for-primetime TV ratings — and they’re impressive.
On Thursday, Nielsen rolled out the first significant find from its new streaming ratings: the “Stranger Things 2” premiere pulled in 15.8 million viewers over its opening weekend. That’s 800,000 more than AMC’s “The Walking Dead” Season 8 start nabbed with the benefit of three days worth of catch-up viewing.
It’s worth pointing out here that “The Walking Dead” is a Sunday show, so the following three evenings did not pack as much free time as the “Stranger Things” weekend did. Also, Season 8 is not Season 2 — but still.
“Stranger Things 2” even did better than the most-comparable (if any truly are) World Series game. Fox’s Game 3 on Friday attracted 15.7 million total viewers in L+3 data. Now, of course, very few people actually watch live sports via DVR — but a win’s a win, right Astros?
Finally, the opening episode to “Stranger Things 2” outdrew Friday’s No. 1 entertainment series, CBS’ “Blue Bloods,” by 3.9 million total viewers. Tom Selleck’s 11.9 million overall audience-member tally counts three days of delayed viewing as well.
Read more chilling (to the rest of TV, at least) statistics about “Stranger Things 2” ratings here, where we include an episode-by-episode tune-in breakdown, as well as how many Americans finished the entire sophomore season within 72 hours.