‘Squid Game’ Might End Up Being Worth $900 Million To Netflix

Early estimates from Netflix have revealed that Korean original series Squid Game might end up being worth $900 million in value to the company, becoming the most valuable streaming series of all time.

Netflix doesn’t typically garner sales based on specific titles, rather its vast catalog and consistent weekly new releases to attract new customers. The company, however, does routinely monitor viewership data and a metric called impact value to determine which individual programs are receiving the most attention.

Squid Game was an immediate win for the platform, costing less than the streamer’s typical content and quickly jumping up to the #1 title. The South Korean show, which centers on individuals in debt who must enter a deadly contest for a cash prize, generated $891.1 million in impact value.

According to Bloomberg, the show cost just $21.4 million to produce, which translates to about $2.4 million an episode. These numbers only apply to the first season, with costs likely to rise for Season 2.

While Netflix doesn’t typically share its more detailed metrics with content creators, the press and investors, it has done so for Squid Game and a few others to detail their success. This inconsistent release of metrics has made it difficult for Hollywood to judge the success of Netflix original titles.

An attorney representing Netflix wrote to Bloomberg to say it would be inappropriate for the media outlet to disclose confidential data contained in documents divulging the above figures. “Netflix does not discuss these metrics outside the company and takes significant steps to protect them from disclosure,” the attorney said.

Bloomberg has chosen to disclose only certain figures that are more obvious or that Netflix and other services already report. According to the data, 132 million people have watched at least two minutes of Squid Game in the show’s first 23 days, surpassing the Netflix record set by hit series Bridgerton.

While it’s helpful to know how many people start a show, the public has not been privy to the number of people who actually stuck around to finish watching the show. Broadcast networks typically report this average figure, allowing certain Netflix success rates to appear inflated.

Netflix has, in fact, estimates that 89% of people who started watching Squid Game viewed at least 75 minutes (more than one episode) and 66% of viewers, or 87 million people, have finished the series in the first 23 days. All in all, subscribers have spent more than 1.4 billion hours watching the show, which was produced by Siren Pictures.

Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor

Stream Squid Game on Netflix