Netflix’s immensely popular Squid Game was already announced as the platform’s most popular series launch ever, but now the streaming company has put a number to its success.
It reached 142 million households over its first four weeks. That counts people who watched at least two minutes. Squid Game is Netflix’s most popular show in 94 countries around the world.
Going forward, Netflix will change how it measures viewership. It will track hours viewed as opposed to accounts that watch at least 2 minutes of programming. “We think engagement as measured by hours viewed is a slightly better indicator of the overall success of our titles and member satisfaction,” Netflix said. “It also matches how outside services measure TV viewing and gives proper credit to rewatching.”
Netflix also released lists for its top 10 series and films based on hours viewed (the new metric) and number of accounts that watched at least 2 minutes (the current metric). Squid Game was released outside of Netflix’s latest reporting period, which is why it’s not included.
For TV series, Bridgerton, Stranger Things, Money Heist, and The Witcher all rank highly, while Bird Box, Extraction, and The Irishman are at the top of Netflix’s most popular movies list.
Squid Game is a Korean survival drama about a group of people who are brought together to pay off their debts by taking part in a series of deadly games.
Creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk told Variety that he came up with the idea for Squid Game in 2008 when it was conceived as a film. However, Korean movie studios refused to finance it due to its violent themes.
Netflix Most Popular Shows And Movies
Finally, Netflix announced that it now has 213 million paid subscribers, including 4.38 million that were added in the latest quarter.
