At this point, almost everyone who has a Netflix subscription may have heard of or watched the Korean dystopian drama Squid Game. Apart from resulting in several memes and videos related to the show being shared online, Squid Game is doing its bit in bringing in the big bucks for the streamer, to the tune of around $900 million.
According to a Bloomberg report, which was prepared based on confidential internal reports at Netflix, Squid Game has resulted in $891 million in what the streamer refers to as “impact value.” This value is essentially a measure of a show’s economic contribution to the streaming service, based on the number of subscribers viewing the content and any additional expenses.
The same report reveals that Netflix spent $21.4 million to produce the nine-episode series, which aired in September. This means that each episode of Squid Game cost the streamer around $2.4 million to produce. This figure is quite small compared to some of the other original series that Netflix has produced, including The Crown, which cost $10 million per episode. Earlier this month, Netflix announced that Squid Game had become its biggest series launch ever. Within less than a month of its release, 111 million subscribers had watched at least two minutes of the first episode, making Squid Game the most-watched series upon launch on the streaming service.
The latest figures released by the streamer reveal that the series reached 132 million subscribers in its first month, and at least 66% of those viewers had watched the entire nine-episode show. Additionally, 89% of those people watched at least one episode of the series. This means that Squid Game has already been viewed more times than some of the most popular Netflix originals, including Bridgerton, The Witcher, and Stranger Things.
Squid Game tells the story of 456 individuals who will go to any extent in a bid to win a large sum of money. Each one of them has a large amount of debt to their names, and they are all shown to be in desperate circumstances. When they first sign up, they aren’t aware that losing the games would mean being killed. Squid Game follows protagonist Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, as he tackles six violent games, along with his fellow contestants.
The series has become a cultural phenomenon since its release. Fans are recreating the scenes by superimposing themselves into the various children’s games played in the series. Many cosplayers have already perfected the Squid Game looks, and the outfits worn by the contestants and guards are already sought after for Halloween.
Squid Game is streaming on Netflix.
Source: Bloomberg