Here’s how popular Squid Games has turned out to be. In a pre-recorded call to shareholders to announce its third-quarter results, Netflix has offered a glimpse of the show’s success — around 142 million households worldwide have watched the Korean-language show about debt-ridden individuals playing a deadly game for a cash prize worth tens of millions of dollars.
Here a viewer is someone who has watched two minutes of the show. So, you had put Squid Game on for a few minutes to check out the hype, right? You are in the pool of viewers. In fact, that’s around two-thirds of the company’s 213 million global customers.
Netflix said the show’s success exemplified how it has built “deep relationships with creative communities around the world” to produce local TV and film in approximately 45 countries. The show’s “mind-boggling” viewership boosted it to the top spot among Netflix’s programming in 94 countries, including the US.
Meanwhile, the streaming service has gained 4.4 million net subscribers in the third quarter, topping average analyst estimates of 3.5 million, the growth didn’t come from the US or Canada, according to CNBC. It only shows the company’s popularity globally. Plus, the company is tackling growth through other means, like it has started dabble in video games. The surge in subscribers also comes on the back of a sluggish start to 2021, when the surging demand for streaming seen earlier on in the pandemic reduced slightly.
Also doing well is the non-English language show, La Casa de Papel, with series five being watched by 69 million viewers in its first four weeks. “We are now producing local TV and film in approximately 45 countries and have built deep relationships with creative communities around the world,” Netflix said in a letter to shareholders.
In September Netflix had agreed to acquire the Roald Dahl Story Company, so it will own the rights to titles like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.