The smash hit series “Squid Game” is estimated to be worth nearly $900 million to Netflix Inc., Bloomberg News reported Saturday, citing internal Netflix data.
The South Korean survival thriller is Netflix’s most-watched series ever in its first month, with more than 132 million subscribers watching at least two minutes of it, according to the Bloomberg report, up from the 111 million viewers that Netflix revealed last week. That has created about $891 million in “impact value,” the report said.
Impact value was described as a combination of data, including how often a show is watched by new customers and by existing customers who watch less often, its cost efficiency and its impact on long-term viewership. In essence, “Squid Game,” which cost about $21 million to make, will generate exponentially more money by attracting and maintaining subscribers.
Netflix is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to divulging viewership data, though last month revealed numbers on the total number of hours its most popular shows have been watched in their first 28 days, which was seen as a slightly better metric than how many have watched at least two minutes of a show, which does not reveal how “sticky” a show is at retaining viewers.
The internal Netflix estimates reported by Bloomberg revealed much more about “Squid Game,” including that 89% of those who started to watch it finished at least one episode, and that 66% of the show’s viewers have already completed the season. The data also said “Squid Game” has been watched for more than 1.4 billion hours in its first 28 days — more than double the total hours watched for Netflix’s previous No. 1 show, “Bridgerton.”
Netflix shares have gained about 7% since “Squid Game” was released on Sept. 17, and analysts expect the show to boost Netflix’s earnings in the third quarter. Netflix is expected to release those results Tuesday afternoon.
