Talk about bad timing: Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) crashed earlier this morning shortly after the final two episodes of its hit series “Stranger Things 4” went live.
What Happened: The company said season 4 set a new Netflix record for an English-language series. Episodes from the fourth season were viewed for a total of 287 million hours, beating a previous record of 193 million hours for the debut of “Bridgerton” season 2.
The streaming service became unavailable right with the launch of the Season 4 Volume 2 episodes. according to Variety. The website monitoring resource DownDetector.com determined Netflix had the highest volume of reported problems around 3:00 a.m. ET, with nearly 13,000 complaints being registered.
The series’ fourth season has been the most popular in terms of viewership numbers, and the abrupt disappearance of the Netflix signal created a global uproar. Fans of the series took to social media to complain and speculate in facetious memes if the series’ arch-villain Vecna was behind the disruption.
See Also: Empire State Building Takes On A ‘Stranger Things’ Dimension; Netflix Inserts Content Warning For New Season
Why It Happened: Netflix was able to resolve the problem in roughly a half-hour, although an official explanation was not immediately forthcoming.
While it is not common for streaming services to abruptly go offline, there have been situations when technical difficulties coincide with larger-than-normal viewership. Warner Bros. Discovery’s (NASDAQ:WBD) experienced that on HBO Max earlier this year with the final episode of the second season of “Euphoria” and in May 2021 with the “Mare of Easttown” finale. Also earlier this year, Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) users began complaining about the Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) Disney+ streaming service crashing on that platform.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
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