Netflix original series ‘Squid Game’ is going to become the most-watched TV series in Netflix history.
WSJ, one of the world’s two major economic news media along with Financial Times (FT) of the U.K., published the article of the ‘Squid Game’ as main news, not in the culture section. This new ranked in the top 3 articles of the WSJ.
Also, according to the global OTT (Over-the-top) services ranking site FlixPatrol, the Squid Game continued to rank first in the TV shows category on the 2nd, and also in the overall rankings including movies and TV shows.
Among 83 countries, the Squid Game ranked first in 81 countries except for Turkey and Denmark.
Foreign media said that the Squid Game, a drama about a dystopia, is expected to be the best hit in Netflix’s history. They also reported that the Squid Game, which was released on the 17th of last month, has now become a ‘global phenomenon.’
Foreign media reported that on TikTok, a short video social media that is used by mostly teenagers, videos of people playing children’s games that appeared in the Squid Game are spreading rapidly, and online retailers are scrambling to sell costumes of ‘Squid Game’ for Halloween.
Halloween, which is popular in the West countries, is at the end of this month. Retailers are focusing on selling costumes of the Squid Game for the Halloween rush.
It is also an unexpected result even for Netflix executives that the Squid Game is ranked first in more than 90 countries, including the U.S.
General director Kim Min-young of Netflix, who is in charge of managing overall creative activities in the Asia-Pacific region except for India, predicted that the Squid Game will rank first by any standard.
According to the director Kim, the Squid Game is expected to achieve a record high by surpassing the British drama ‘Bridgeton,’ the French drama ‘Lupin,’ which had Netflix’s best record, in viewing hours (at least more than two minutes) and the number of viewers.
“The Squid Game is still on the rise,” she said. “I have never seen such fast and aggressive rise like the Squid Game.”
The trailer of the Squid Game on YouTube also exceeded 14 million views. It is more than twice the views of Bridgerton and Lupin trailers.
Netflix previously invested about USD 700 million in Korean movies and dramas between 2015 and 2020. It is also planning to invest USD 500 million this year.
Since 2016, Netflix has produced about 80 Korean movies and drama series.
This investment is definitely not small.
Between 2019 and 2020, Netflix invested around USD 400 million in India, an Asian film paradise called ‘Bollywood.’
Netflix is investing about USD 17 billion in global content this year.
Therefore, the popularity of the Squid Game is especially good news for Netflix, which has been in fierce competition these days. In the middle of the situation where competitors such as Disney+ and Amazon Prime are threatening Netflix’s strong position with their original hits, the Squid Game is significantly contributing to Netflix’s revenue.
The success of the Squid Game is unusual in many ways.
Like the Korean movie ‘Parasite,’ it has attracted Americans who are not used to watching content with subtitles.
Foreign media analyzed that Netflix emphasized the visual, including green training suits and colorful sets similar to playgrounds, considering the language barriers. Also, it makes complicated game rules in the drama simplified or changed easy to understand.
Also, the success of the Squid Game was affected by the rapid spread of Korean dramas to Europe, Latin America, and the United States, starting with Asia.
In short, the expansion of the global popularity of K-dramas became the basis for the success of the Squid Game.
According to Netflix, watching K-drama in the U.S. has doubled over the past two years.
Netflix said that about 95% of all viewers of the Squid Games are outside of Korea. The Squid Game is currently providing subtitles in 31 languages and was also dubbed in 13 languages.
Meanwhile, the director Hwang Dong-hyuk of the Squid Game said, “The Squid Game was planned more than a decade ago, but I thought that it would be impossible to produce due to its bizarre vibes. I had a tough time producing the Squid Game, including selling my laptop for cash.” (ANI/Global Economic)
