Although viewers may tease “Stranger Things” for its long gaps between seasons and the disorienting aging of its main cast of children, the series is undeniably a major success. It’s listed everywhere, its products can be found in almost every department store, and the release of each new season shares a similar vibe to the release of a huge box office blockbuster.
But how much money did the series actually make? It’s hard to tell exactly with streaming shows, but the available data certainly implies he’s made a fortune. According to data firm Parrot Analytics (via TIME Magazine), the series has generated approximately “2 million new subscribers and over $1 billion in revenue for Netflix since 2020.”
It’s important to note that season 1 of “Stranger Things” aired four years earlier, in 2016, and it became an instant hit. In fact, with season 3 airing in 2019 and season 5 not yet finished, this billion-dollar estimate is even more impressive: it comes at a time when the series has only aired one season, nine episodes. By the end of season 5, the series’ total revenue is expected to be well over $2 billion.
The enormous financial success of “Stranger Things” is what helped justify the series’ budget explosion. Season 5 is rumored to have cost between $50 million and $60 million per episode, numbers almost unheard of in the television industry. “It’s a little scary,” Matt Duffer, co-creator of the series, told TIME. “That puts pressure on each season because it has to perform better than the last to continue to justify increasing the scale of the show.”
Is Stranger Things the new Star Wars?
Part of what makes the scale of this show’s success difficult to measure is that the franchise benefits not only from its direct audience, but also from its spin-off products. As TIME noted, “For the final season, they’re trying to achieve ‘Barbie’ level cultural saturation with ‘Stranger Things’ partnerships: Nike sneakers, Pandora jewelry, Squishmallow plush toys, ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ games and even Palermo’s frozen pizza.”[ed] Halloween costumes, a Tony Award-winning play, an upcoming animated series and, if all goes well, at least one spin-off.”
The profitability of “Stranger Things” comes not only from its current audience, but also from the ease with which Netflix will be able to exploit its brand in the years to come. To survive in an increasingly competitive streaming environment, Netflix has relied more on its strongest pre-existing intellectual properties, and no Netflix original show currently seems like a safer bet than this one.
It’s hard not to look at this and think of “Star Wars,” a franchise that has proven enduring not only because of the original films, but also because of all the toys, books, costumes and spin-offs that have come from it. Today, “Star Wars” is such a big franchise that it would take a lifetime to read or watch all the media attached to it, and it seems Netflix wants “Stranger Things” to reach a similar size. That may be a difficult feat for “Stranger Things,” a series without the massive sandbox that is the “Star Wars” galaxy, but at the current rate, it looks like Netflix will try to pull it off anyway.
Season 5 of “Stranger Things” will premiere on Netflix on November 26, 2025, and the final episodes will debut a month later, on December 25 and 31.
