'Squid Game' is Netflix's cash cow

In less than four weeks, "Squid Game" went straight to the top, registering the best start for a series on Netflix with a record 111 million subscriber households having watched it
Image: Noh Juhan / Netflix

Netflix has hit the jackpot! Over the last few weeks it's been impossible to ignore the "Squid Game" phenonemon sweeping the world. And Netflix's latest global success is set to continue making its mark on the streaming platform. The South Korean series could bring in almost $900 million for the American giant. Winning!

According to an internal document that Bloomberg consulted and reported on, "Squid Game" has already generated $891.1 million for Netflix. The dystopian South Korean series has become one of the streaming platform's must-sees since its launch on September 17. And the amount that could easilyl reach $900 million, according to Netflix estimates.

In less than four weeks, "Squid Game" went straight to the top, registering the best start for a series on Netflix with a record 111 million subscriber households having watched it. The success far exceeds that of "Bridgerton." The England-set series previously held the top spot in that department with 82 million accounts having watched it during its first four weeks on Netflix.

40 times the original budget

The popularity of "Squid Game" doesn't seem to be waning, as according to documents seen by Bloomberg, the series has now been watched by 132 million people in its first 23 days on the platform (at least two minutes of the series). According to Netflix, 89% of subscribers have watched at least 75 minutes of the series, or more than one episode, and 66%, or 87 million people, have watched it in its entirety in the first 23 days after launch. In total, subscribers spent more than 1.4 billion hours watching "Squid Game," Bloomberg said.

While the series has succeeded in making its mark on social networks, as well as in fashion and even in the realm of food, "Squid Game" is even more profitable because it was made with a relatively small budget; 21.4 million dollars was the budget used to produce the series, or about 2.4 million per episode. The series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk could therefore bring in 40 times the amount spent by Netflix in acquiring it.