• by Laurie Sullivan , Yesterday

Google on Christmas Day debuted a video highlighting the top Search trends that have defined Netflix’s hit series "Stranger Things." The series, now in its fifth and final season, first debuted in 2016.

" 'Stranger Things' has been one of the most powerful forces over the last nearly 10 years, and its fifth and final season has sparked an incredible wave of curiosity from fans around the world,” said Magno Herran, vice president of brand marketing and partnerships at Netflix.

Partnering with Google meant celebrating the nostalgia and fandom that powered the series throughout all the seasons, she said.

The video debuts during the "NFL on Netflix" game between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings. It includes a two-minute Year in Search-style video based on Google Search Trends data created by Google’s Brand Studio, in partnership with Netflix’s Brand Creative Studio.

KK Walker, executive creative director at Google Brand Studio, saw the perfect opportunity to satisfy fans' obsession with a decade-long cultural phenomenon.

The series took over the search trends each time a new "Stranger Things" season launched. It ran as one of the top-trending cultural moments on Search, the true definition of fandom. 

The series recorded 8.46 billion viewing minutes in the debut week of Season 5, putting it in front of anything else streaming from November 24 through November 30, according to Nielsen’s latest weekly report.

That’s the biggest weekly viewing total ever produced by a streaming title by well over 1B minutes, besting a record that was already held by "Stranger Things" after the series amassed 7.2B minutes when Season 4 premiered in 2022.

Nielsen doesn’t separate viewing totals by season, per Deadline, but the measurement company said 57% of the total came from the new Season 5 episodes and 59% of the viewership were adults 18-49.

Celebrating the show and preparing for the ultimate series finale, Google and Netflix created a love letter to fans. Activations include experiences and social content to highlight the nostalgia, fandom, and most importantly, curiosity that audiences have shared during the years searching "Stranger Things" on Google and watching the series on Netflix from the first, to now the fifth and final season.