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Netflix’s earnings from “The Squid Game,” a South Korean survival series, is believed to be around $ 900 million. According to data, this series has reached 132 million homes, accounting for more than half of Netflix’s 209 million accounts. The show has been shown for 1.4 billion hours, according to internal analytics from the media conglomerate. It has been a month since the launch of “The Squid Game” and the series is now in the second position on the platform. The series circles around betting, but not your classic 20Bet login page betting, no. It’s a betting process on human lives.
It appears that we are dealing with a new high in terms of popularity and earnings. Despite the fact that Netflix does not strive to distribute its own material, the recent hit’s popularity can be attributed to a variety of factors. Let’s take a deeper look at this phenomenon and create a recipe for big profits in the form of streaming.
The Plot
The “squid game” is frequently compared to the “Saw,” “Battle Royale,” and “The Hunger Games,” and there’s some logic behind this. According to the storyline of the South Korean TV show, 456 individuals who are in debt end up on a deserted island where they are forced to participate in a fatal performance. It has simple rules: To win, you must pass six tests based on famous children’s activities in the nation, ranging from tug-of-war to “Quieter you go — you will go further.”
The catch is that the cost of making a mistake is as severe as it gets: failing any test results in instant death. At the same time, participation in the program is basically optional — it may be canceled at any point between contests if a majority of the survivors vote no. With one caveat: they will not earn a prize of 45.6 billion won (roughly $ 40 million) in this scenario, which, considering the heroes’ financial woes, is not much better than death.
The Talk of the Town
“People hear about it, talk about it, like it, and there’s a real social side to it that really helps to expand the program beyond the bounds we know,” Netflix’s Global Television Director Bela Bajaria told Vulture.
On the one hand, the “Squid Game” is not based on any existing notion or concept, which may limit the success of a new product without a following. Despite the fact that the series was popular in South Korea and other Asian nations, according to Vulture, there was no real push for its promotion in the United States. The main goal was to have social media explode, with fans of Twitter and TikTok writing about the new series incessantly.
Accessibility
The “Squid Game’s” accessibility is another reason why it has become a true global sensation. Although the episodes are in Korean, Netflix provides subtitles and dubbing in 37 languages. Even the fact that the show is subtitled and dubbed has sparked online debates, with viewers pointing out that key context is absent from the translations. Yet another reason to use social media.
No Language Barriers
Non-English-language TV shows are acquiring a lot of traction. Netflix featured several non-English programs before “The Squid Game”. According to Adjara, the amount of English-language material streamed to English-speaking nations (the United States) has climbed by 71% during 2019. Netflix has been a smash with shows like “Lupin,” which was previously in French, and “Paper House,” which was initially in Spanish.
Korean Culture Phenomenon
For many years, the Korean entertainment industry has been spreading around the world. Fans of K-pop, or Korean pop music, such as BTS and Black Pink, may be found all over the world. And motion movie pictures like “Parasites,” a South Korean film, have captivated Hollywood: the movie has received the Academy Award for Best Picture last year.
It’s not only the demand for all things Korean: the cost of content and movie production is frequently cheaper there, which means Netflix may begin spending resources to generate more material comparable to “The Squid Game” in the near future. The prescription appears to be simple: rely on users and social networks, recognize that there is more to Hollywood production than the classics, and seek trends outside of streaming itself.
