Netflix Glitches As ‘Stranger Things 5’ Premiere Sparks Traffic Surge

Netflix’s “Stranger Things” series has already generated at least $1 billion in revenue for the streaming giant since 2020, according to a report.

• Netflix has scheduled the release of the fifth and final season of the series in three parts.
• Netflix stock is up 19% this year, in line with the communication services sector. 
• The shares began trading on a 10:1 split-adjusted basis on Nov. 17.

Streaming giant Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) experienced a service outage late Wednesday, coinciding with the premiere of the highly anticipated first volume of Stranger Things' fifth season.

Tech Plays Spoilsport?

According to Downdetector, a website that tracks online service outages, the first outage was reported at 7 p.m. ET, and incidents peaked around 8 p.m. ET before trickling down. Of the reported incidents, 79% were related to video streaming. About 19% complained of issues with the website and 3% reported problems with search.

The outage appears to have affected services worldwide.

Netflix has scheduled the release of the fifth and final season of the series in three parts: Volume 1, comprising 4 episodes, on Nov. 26; Volume 2, comprising 3 episodes, on Dec. 25; and the finale on New Year’s Eve. Each episode is scheduled to release at 8 p.m. ET.

Netflix did not immediately respond to Stocktwits’ inquiry seeking confirmation of the outage.

According to a MarketWatch report, citing Parrot Analytics, the Stranger Things TV show has already generated at least $1 billion in revenue for the streaming giant since 2020. The report also stated that Netflix may have spent $60 million per episode on the fifth season, bringing the overall spend to about $400 million, making it one of the most expensive TV show productions and rivaling the budgets of blockbuster films.

Social Media Reacts

The outage did not go down well with social media users, who had a field day flooding the internet with comments and memes. One of them shared a meme of a server rack with a person sporting a perplexed look at the networking, captioned “Netflix servers after Stranger Things dropped.”

Another said, “NETFLIX FIX YOURSELF RIGHT NOW BRO, IVE BEEN WAITING THREE YEARS   #StrangerThings5.”

A third user called the company to report an issue with its app. Since then, social media users have confirmed that it is back up.

What Retail Feels About NFLX Stock

The new instalment of the thriller show hasn’t moved the needle on the Netflix stock, at least with retail investors. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment remained ‘bearish’ as of late Wednesday, and the message volume dropped off to ‘low’ levels, potentially reflecting the holiday mood among traders.

One user expects Netflix to rally, starting on Monday, and urged fellow retailers to load up.

Another user expressed excitement about the Stranger Things premiere, although the community hasn’t discussed the outage per se.

Netflix stock is up 19% this year, in line with the communication services sector. The shares began trading on a 10:1 split-adjusted basis on Nov. 17 but have since fallen about 4% amid the tech-driven market weakness.

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