'Squid Game' has 'very good chance' of becoming Netflix' top show of all time, according to co-CEO

Michelle De Pacina
·2 min read
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Netflix U.S.’ No. 1 show as of today, “Squid Game,” is likely to become the platform’s biggest show of all time, according to one of the company’s top executives.

Hallyu wave: “Squid Game” follows the story of a group of contestants who risk their lives to play in a survival game in hopes of winning the 45.6 billion won (about $38.4 million) prize. The drama went viral, becoming the first Korean series to rank No. 1 on Netflix U.S.

  • Ted Sarandos, co-CEO and head of content at Netflix, was caught by surprise by the Korean survival drama’s rankings as he “did not see that coming in terms of global popularity,” according to Variety.

  • At Monday’s Vox Media’s Code Conference, Sarandos said about the popularity of the series, "There's a show on Netflix right now that is the No. 1 in the world, like everywhere in the world. It's called ‘Squid Game.’ ‘Squid Game’ will definitely be our biggest non-English language show in the world, for sure."


Netflix Rankings: During the conference, Netflix released its top 10 rankings of its shows and movies for the first time in order to be transparent “with the market, and with talent, with everybody.” The company calculates its originals’ popularity by counting the number of accounts that have watched at least two minutes of a show in its first 28 days of release.



  • “Squid Game” was released on Sept. 17 and had only 11 days of viewership by Monday’s Code Conference, but Sarandos is already predicting its “very good chance” of becoming Netflix’s “biggest show ever,” according to CNET’s report.



  • The score to beat is Shonda Rhimes’ “Bridgerton” which currently holds the No. 1 series title for both Netflix households sampling and time spent viewing.


Featured Image via Vox Media (left), Netflix (right)

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