Tabletop and other Youtube channels, plus various podcasts, have been around a lot longer and spread the idea to a lot of people who are caught up in the current zeitgeist of nerd culture but hadn't grown up in it (and so largely had missed out on the RPG games the rest of us played as teens).
There was also a strong movement away from heavy mechanics to narrative heavy games with lighter mechanics over the past decade which offered a lot more ways to introduce people to tabletop RPGs. Video games also helped. A ton of jocks and frat guys, folks who never would've played a tabletop RPG in the 80s or 90s (or not in large numbers) were won over with 4th edition last decade because it was like the video games they were playing (for better or worse, I never really took to the system).
Kickstarter catching the public's attention has also helped, with lots of indie or otherwise smaller presses being able to publish their systems.
Lots of factors involved. Stranger Things may be helping this year, but the trend in increasing popularity has been happening for several years.
There was also a strong movement away from heavy mechanics to narrative heavy games with lighter mechanics over the past decade which offered a lot more ways to introduce people to tabletop RPGs. Video games also helped. A ton of jocks and frat guys, folks who never would've played a tabletop RPG in the 80s or 90s (or not in large numbers) were won over with 4th edition last decade because it was like the video games they were playing (for better or worse, I never really took to the system).
Kickstarter catching the public's attention has also helped, with lots of indie or otherwise smaller presses being able to publish their systems.
Lots of factors involved. Stranger Things may be helping this year, but the trend in increasing popularity has been happening for several years.