Who Won the Streaming Showdown: ‘Stranger Things 4’ vs. ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’
thewrap.com“Stranger Things 4” and Disney+ dropped the first two episodes of “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” But in streaming’s never-ending battle for eyeballs and attention spans, which blockbuster release emerged more victorious?
Even as “Obi-Wan” hit Disney+ slightly earlier (9pm PT Thursday night) than “Stranger Things” Season 4 Volume 1 dropped on Netflix, the new “Star Wars” series simply couldn’t compete with the number of episodes “Stranger Things” has delivered over the years.
As a result, the first four seasons of the Netflix series accrued 5.1 billion U.S. TV viewing minutes from May 23-May 29 while episodes 1 and 2 of “Obi-Wan” delivered 1 billion, according to Nielsen (which does not measure viewership via laptops, tablets, and mobile devices).
Yet this general minutes viewed metric doesn’t tell the whole story as it skews in favor of longer-running series. “Obi-Wan Kenobi” delivered Disney+ its largest original series premiere weekend ever, becoming just the third non-movie title to exceed 1 billion viewing minutes. (“Loki” did it twice in July 2021 but with five episodes and the following week with six).“Stranger Things 4” is just the third title to ever break the 5 billion weekly viewing minute mark, placing it third overall behind lockdown-aided releases “Tiger King” (5.3 billion) and “Ozark” (5.2 billion).
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