The South Korean series beat the previous record by nearly 30 million households.
For weeks now, the Korean series â which sees debt-ridden contestants compete for a cash prize through a series of deadly childhood games â has been ranked number one on Netflix in 90 different countries. So, it was only a matter of time before it took the top spot and became the streaming platform’s most-watched show.
Well, today Netflix has made it official and announced that Squid Game is now their biggest ever series at launch, with 111 million accounts tuning in.
It took more than 10 years for Hwang Dong-hyuk to get Squid Game made.
It only took 17 days and 111M global fans to become our biggest ever series at launch (and the first to surpass 100M when it premiered).
Twitter: @NetflixGeeked
The streaming platform also noted that the Korean Series only took 17 days to hit this milestone and was the first to surpass 100 million when it premiered.
This absolutely crushes the previous record, which was set by Bridgerton after its 2020 release, resulting in 82 million accounts watching in its first month.
Netflix
That’s a difference of nearly 30 million!
If you’re wondering just how Netflix calculates this data, a spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that these figures are “shared based on the number of accounts that watched the series for at least two minutes.”
Netflix
This is a standard metric used for ranking the success of titles.
This is a huge milestone for Squid Game, especially given that it’s both a non-English title and had no serious promotion or ad campaign.
Hopefully this opens the doors for more non-English content both on Netflix and in the wider industry â and for more people to start watching and appreciating it.
Congratulations to Squid Game, its cast and, of course, writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk!
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