“Squid Game” is about to make a killing – financially.
The popular show’s second season, which premiered on December 26, has broken the record for most-watched Netflix series in the first week, surpassing 68 million hours.
“Squid Game 2” has become a massive success and topped Netflix in all regions even though critics gave mixed reviews. That’s not all, the second installment released after three years is expected to bring in a massive 1.5 trillion won (around 1 billion USD) in profit.
A recent study by K-Entertech Hub found that Season 1 of “Squid Game” brought in around 1 trillion won in revenue, with production costs of about 25 billion won. This translates to a staggering profit margin of around 40 times the initial investment.
Season 2 cost a whopping 100 billion won to make, four times more than the first season. Despite getting some pretty harsh reviews, it still managed to smash records. Within just two days, it was the number-one show in 93 countries. It scored a perfect 930 points in every single one of those countries, according to FlixPatrol.
Experts predict that “Squid Game 2” will make at least 1.5 trillion won. Han Jeong-hoon, CEO of K-Entertech Hub, says it will likely generate 10 times more than the production cost. He also thinks the show will help Netflix grow, with more subscribers and a higher stock price.
The success of “Squid Game” Season 1 brought Netflix 4.4 million new subscribers. Now, Season 2 is also gaining traction globally. In the US, demand for Season 2 is 8% higher than in Korea. Other countries like France, Russia, and Taiwan are also showing strong interest.
On social media, “Squid Game” generated 3.1 million mentions and potentially reached 5.19 billion people. With this momentum, Netflix is already planning to release Season 3 later this year.
