'Stranger Things' breaks Netflix viewing records

Retro sci-fi series 'Stranger Things' has broken Netflix viewing records with the global launch of its third season, the streaming giant said in a rare tweet publishing viewing data.

The nostalgic 1980s show about a gang of suburban adolescents battling supernatural monsters had been watched by 40.7 million accounts since Thursday, it said.

That figure for season three was "more than any other film or series in its first four days," the company said late Monday.

"And 18.2 million have already finished the entire season," it added.

Netflix is the market leader in global television and film streaming, with over 140 million paying accounts worldwide.

It occasionally publishes viewing figures for certain shows, but closely guards the vast majority of its data.

The platform is under increasing pressure from a cluster of deep-pocketed rivals including Amazon, Disney and Apple.

Comcast´s NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia's HBO Max are also set to launch, depriving Netflix of popular shows The Office and Friends respectively.

By comparison, Netflix in December said over 45 million accounts had streamed the Sandra Bullock film Bird Box a week after its launch.

With no independent verification or details on the criteria for measuring a full "viewing" available, some analysts expressed skepticism over the statistic.