Netflix’s South Korean drama Squid Game, a gory drama-thriller series where “hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games” with deadly high stakes for incredible prizes, is reportedly poised to overtake Bridgerton as the streaming service’s most-watched show. This news was self-reported by Netflix and further covered by Variety, who also notes that Squid Game has become the first K-Drama to rate as Netflix’s top show in the United States.
Released on September 17, within 48 hours it had entered the top 10 shows globally. On September 21, it took the top spot. “We did not see that coming, in terms of its global popularity,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO and chief content officer, told Variety.
By way of comparison, Bridgerton, the period drama about England’s Regency era, debuted on Christmas Day last year and by January it was proclaimed (again by Netflix) to be its “biggest show ever.” Even without numbers giving a grounded sense of the success, think of it this way: As production on Season 2 was just getting started in April, it was already picked up for Seasons 3 and 4. Squid Game is reported to be pacing to outperform that kind of viewership.
Squid Game is available to stream exclusively on Netflix. You can also check out GameSpot’s curated guide to all the new content hitting Netflix in October right here.
Source: Gamespot
