On Wednesday evening, Netflix experienced a significant outage in the United States that affected thousands of users. The disruption occurred right as the highly anticipated Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 premiered. This timing intensified frustrations among viewers eager to watch the new episodes.
Scale of the Outage
Within minutes of the premiere, users flocked to social media to voice their complaints. Many reported that their screens froze, or that the app crashed midstream. The website Downdetector, known for tracking user reports, recorded over 8,000 outage reports in the US.
Types of Issues Reported
- 51% of users reported streaming failures.
- 41% experienced server connection issues.
The outage was not limited to the US. Reports indicated that hundreds of users in India also faced similar problems during the same timeframe. Many shared their frustrations through screenshots of frozen screens and unresponsive apps.
User Reactions
Responses poured in on the platform X, with fans directly linking the outage to the Stranger Things premiere. One user lamented, “Me staying up until 1am and then Netflix going down instantly.” Another expressed dismay, saying, “Waited all day to watch Stranger Things and now Netflix is down.”
| User Complaints | Example Messages |
|---|---|
| Frozen Frames | “Netflix seems to be down for me Nooooooo.” |
| Endless Loading Wheels | “I’m staying off this app until I finish the new Stranger Things episodes.” |
Previous Outages
This incident marks the second time Stranger Things has impacted Netflix’s service. In July 2022, when the final two episodes of Season 4 were released, the platform also faced outages.
As of now, Netflix has not provided any details regarding the cause of this recent disruption.