Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters), – The streaming company announced Wednesday that the South Korean hit show, “Squid Game”, has been officially launched by Netflix (NASDAQ.).

Netflix’s nine-part thriller features cash-strapped contestants playing childhood games, with devastating consequences. The goal is to win 45.6 Billion Won ($38 Million).

The dystopian drama has inspired countless memes, Halloween costumes of the ubiquitious green tracksuits worn by contestants and real world recreations https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/seller-basks-squid-game-fame-his-sweet-deadly-treat-2021-10-01 of the various games. It has also sparked a debate within South Korea about toxic competitive societies and prompted new interest in the country’s culture and language https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/netflix-hit-show-squid-game-spurs-interest-learning-korean-2021-10-11 around the world. “Squid Game has officially reached 111 million fans — making it our biggest series launch ever!” Netflix published a tweet on Twitter (NYSE :).

Since its Sept. 17 release, the series has reached its total of 27 days. This is easily faster than U.K. Costume Drama “Bridgerton”, which attracted 82,000,000 accounts within its first 28 days.

Netflix provides limited data on its viewing numbers and reduces the information it gives in different ways. It released 28-day debut numbers for Bridgerton and other shows. They included all accounts that watched at least one episode.

Ted Sarandos (CEO, Chief Content Officer) at Netflix stated that Netflix was surprised by the popularity of “Squid Game”, which he said to a California tech conference last month.

“We didn’t see that coming,” he stated.

The series was so popular that South Korean Internet service provider SK Broadband sued Netflix https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/skorea-broadband-firm-sues-netflix-after-traffic-surge-squid-game-2021-10-01 to pay for costs from increased network traffic and maintenance work because of the surge in viewers.

And a South Korean woman was in talks with the U.S. firm about compensation after she was deluged with thousands of prank calls and text messages when her phone number https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/netflix-edit-squid-game-phone-number-after-woman-inundated-with-calls-2021-10-06 was inadvertently highlighted as a key plot point in the series.

Netflix has it would spend https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netflix-south-korea-idUSKBN2AP1RJ more than $500 million on content produced in South Korea this year.