"Squid Game" tops the global viewing volume list, and the director admits that the sequel is made for money

Three years after the broadcast of "Squid Game", its sequel "Squid Game 2" was finally launched amid the anticipation of audiences around the world.

As of December 26, 2024, after all 7 episodes of Squidward Illusion 2 were released on the streaming platform Netflix, they quickly topped the Netflix non-English TV program global viewing list and ranked first in 92 countries and regions. Its first week viewing volume of 68 million times broke the first week viewing volume record of 50.1 million times of Squidward Illusion Season 1, and led the first season to return to the third place on the list.

Since its launch, the first season of "Squidward Floyd" has remained the most popular non-English TV program in Netflix's history with 265 million views.

It is understood that the huge commercial value of "Squid Game" is not only reflected in the number of broadcasts, but also drives the development of the entire IP. Diversified development forms such as games, variety shows, and offline experience centers are fully rolled out. This drama, which was invested only 20 million US dollars, is expected to reap nearly 900 million US dollars in revenue.

Netflix is ​​also developing the commercial value of Squidward: Unleashed. For example, the game Squidward: Unleashed topped the download charts of action games in the Apple App Store in 57 countries and regions. In addition, before filming the sequel, director Hwang Dong Hyuk also produced the variety show Squidward: Reality Challenge, and offline game experience centers of Squidward have also been launched one after another.

Faced with such huge commercial value, even director Hwang Dong Hyuk himself was shaken. He originally insisted not to make a sequel to "Squid Game", but the unexpected success changed his mind. He frankly admitted that the reason for launching the second and third seasons was to pursue more economic benefits, because the success of the first season did not bring him a satisfactory return.

Netflix also reportedly contributed to the success of Squidward Fever. At the beginning of 2022, Netflix's number of paying subscribers in South Korea exceeded 5.3 million, and is now estimated to have exceeded 6 million. In the same year, Netflix's revenue in South Korea exceeded $800 million. In addition, Netflix also announced that it will invest $2.5 billion in South Korea to produce film and television content in the next four years, which is twice its investment in South Korea since entering the South Korean market in 2015.

However, Netflix's aggressive entry into the Korean film and television industry has also caused anxiety in South Korea. Some people in the film and television industry believe that Netflix has not brought the economic returns it deserves to South Korea, and the copyright is firmly in Netflix's hands. Korean network operators also pointed out that Netflix should pay more for data traffic.

In response, Netflix’s CEO said that Netflix’s investment in content production and creators is more important than simple profit sharing and will produce greater chain economic effects.