Netflix Calls Squid Game Its 'Biggest Ever Series At Launch' (theverge.com) 70
Netflix's hugely popular series Squid Game has become its biggest title ever at launch, the company said Monday. The Verge reports: The company's Netflix Geeked account tweeted Monday that Hwang Dong-Hyuk's survival thriller reached 111 million global accounts in its first 17 days on the service. Additionally, Squid Game is the first Netflix series to surpass 100 million in its first 28 days on the service, a spokesperson told The Verge. Netflix typically uses 28-day windows to measure the performance of a title on its platform. The spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that the figures it shared are based on the number of accounts that watched the series for at least two minutes, its standard metric for ranking titles (though it has used additional measurements to track the success of titles in the past).
Since debuting on Netflix on September 17th, Squid Game has reached the no. 1 position on the streaming service in 94 countries -- every country in the world where the service features a top 10 list, the company spokesperson said. Additionally, the show has held the no. 1 position for 21 days in the US, shattering the record for a non-English language title. Squid Game was previously announced as the first Korean title to reach the top spot in the US.
Since debuting on Netflix on September 17th, Squid Game has reached the no. 1 position on the streaming service in 94 countries -- every country in the world where the service features a top 10 list, the company spokesperson said. Additionally, the show has held the no. 1 position for 21 days in the US, shattering the record for a non-English language title. Squid Game was previously announced as the first Korean title to reach the top spot in the US.
Netflix became a YA content creator (Score:2)
Netflix has mostly been pushing crappy YA / teen series and films since forever. All the hits that remained are from external (european) producers.
They need to get their head out of their collective asses and realize that this show is a hit, not because it is so well made (because it isn't), but because it is less shit that all the rest.
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What's really remarkable is that it's so popular despite being subtitled. Usually stuff with subtitles has a very hard time breaking though, and Netflix tends to dub most things instead. For example if you watch The Witcher (also pretty good) you can have all the dialogue, even the songs, dubbed into a dozen languages.
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I accidentally clicked on it (not ready to watch it) and it plays dubbed in English by default. I watch a lot of South Korean content and in the original language with subtitles. Most of those don't have English, but I like to watch things in their original language with their original cast anyway.
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Oh, that's interesting. I didn't realize there was an English dub as every screenshot I've seen has been subtitled. I wonder if it's any good.
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The English dub is terrible - I could tell that as soon as I heard people talking. As is the English CC - many of the articles about how bad the subtitles were actually about the English closed captions. The English subtitles are supposedly way better, though it misses a lot of nuances of the language that you can't fit into subtitles, like honorifics, etc. Stuff you can easily pick up on hearing the original language even if you don't speak it.
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Yeah it's the same with Japanese stuff. I'm just resigned to the fact that I'll never be able to fully appreciate a lot of these movies because I don't speak the language.
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Ganbatte!
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After all they should exactly know what's watched, when, and by whom. So perhaps if they push YA crap (yes, I too think that most YA is shallow crap) it's perhaps because that makes them a lot of money on the US market.
I've observed something similar in anime from Japan, which eventually made me quit even trying to find something watchable (my personal standards) over 10 years ago.
There most isn't even YA, but aimed at an even young
Re: Netflix became a YA content creator (Score:2)
To me it appeared like the writers were not capable of writing older characters properly, who have lived some life that formed their personality before the story starts, so they tend to use blank slate characters -- children, and resort to telling a kind of 'coming of age' story over and over and over.
It's easier to write that stuff. Character development takes time and consumes script pages that could be better used for violence and product placement. And the target audience is less judgemental about inconsistencies, since they have less life experience upon which to base judgements. So, better ratings.
There's also a subtext of class struggle and injustice born of inequality (Hunger Games was similar). It's easier to slip such subliminal messages into the script when your target demographic doesn't rec
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Creating characters that seem credible to a wide audience of all levels of education is a difficult task. Some say that it's nigh impossible, which is why some writers like Stephen King swear on basing all their main characters personalities and backgrounds on actual people. With that approach you don't have to invent the entire life of a human being, but instead 'just' have get to k
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As someone who watches you way too many series and movies, I can tell you that it IS well-made. There is clearly a lot of effort and homework done to get everything right, especially the first 6 episodes of the show, which is enough to get everyone invested even if the whole thing takes a noise-dive (take GoT as an example).
I do agree with you that we are in a bit of drought when it comes to good shows, though. A large part of Squid Game's success is that there isnt much competition out there. Netflix has b
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Well... of course they did! Young Adult series are cheap to make, and kids aren't really fussy about what they watch. Besides, most those people who were "Netflix and Chillin" in the early 2010's have young kids now, and their parents need to keep them occupied. If Netflix can't do it for them, they'll just switch to Disney+.
Real Lighting Park (Score:1)
That name, in the credits, is the best part of the show.
No Woke Wankery... (Score:1)
Could that be it??? Could it?
Huh?
Naaaah!
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It really couldn't, because successful movies have had woke wankery since time was time.
Shit, even GI Joe had wokeness messages after the show on occasion (about treating people nice and such) and most of us would sit and watch 'em.
Re: No Woke Wankery... (Score:2)
I think we have different notions of wokeness.
Being humane and against racism and discriminations is imho not wokeness.
Replacing characters based on a forced ideology, and thereby discriminating against others (whites, chinese, terf women etc.) Is what repels people (including me).
And I am an old socialist, tending to the left, but this shit coming mainly from the US has nothing to do with social justice. It's actually the opposite.
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Re: No Woke Wankery... (Score:1)
Amen bro!
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Anti-racism would be a forced ideology too. Agreeing with it doesn't change that fact. You're only seeing some differently because you disagree.
Well at least they have Stargate (Score:3)
The movie, and the first series.
I wish they had Atlantis and Universe too.
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If you only care about one or a handful of shows, don't pay monthly for them. You can buy them, ignore the DMCA to your heart's content and stream them from whatever system you want to set up (even Plex).
Streaming subscriptions are great for discovering new, high quality content.
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If you only care about one or a handful of shows, don't pay monthly for them. You can buy them, ignore the DMCA to your heart's content and stream them from whatever system you want to set up (even Plex).
Streaming subscriptions are great for discovering new, high quality content.
Yeah I just don't like it when it's quiet at home, so I stream older stuff I don't really need to pay attention to while I read, or surf.
The only subscription I currently have is Netflix.
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But Netflix doesn't keep others' series and movies on its service forever. :(
How many watched to the end? (Score:5, Interesting)
According to the article, Netflix count "the number of accounts that watched the series for at least two minutes, its standard metric for ranking titles". That's not long enough to develop an opinion. "More than 50% of its duration" would be what most people might count as "watched".
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I agree, I probably count as having 'watched' it despite only playing a short bit to establish it's not my thing. With all the crazy over the top hype I decided to see if there was something there for me, but there ultimately wasn't.
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2min is Not the Only Metric Netflix Tracks (Score:2)
According to the article, Netflix count "the number of accounts that watched the series for at least two minutes, its standard metric for ranking titles". That's not long enough to develop an opinion. "More than 50% of its duration" would be what most people might count as "watched".
I'm sure they keep track of many different measurements of viewers' habits and the 2 minute one is probably the one that gives them the best bragging rights on "Squid Games".
What's interesting is that all the people I know who gave up and didn't want to see any more, did so at around episode 7. So by using your 50% duration criterion, they'd all be considered as having "watched".
I think the best metric will be how many will watch season 2.
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While is is true Netflix's watch metric is a ridiculous stat designed to inflate view counts to excite investors, it does at least provide usefulness as a relative metric. Squid Game has been "watched" by 111 million, compared to Bridgerton which was "watched" by 82 million.
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There are other metrics, and I am sure they would use them internally. The keyword here is internally, since 2-minutes watch number would be much better suited for inflated marketing.
As you suggested, certain percentages, including completion would be there.
"Thumbs up" would be another metric.
Sign-ups, specifically sign up peaks after the new show is released, and sign-up-to-immediate-watch-of-the-show
And of course retention, how many people dropped Netflix vs how many has kept.
No, don't expect any of these
Re: I no longer feel any joy in using computers. (Score:2)
They are trying to kill the web so that you will only use spying apps from their walled garden.
Kids (Score:3, Interesting)
I heard about "squid games" because retarded parents let their primary school kids watch it. Then the kids brutalize each other because they mimic the show.
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User name checks out.
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Yep. I'm one of the un-cool parents who won't let their teenagers watch this. Also my 11 year old said some of their classmates watched it. I watched the first episode just to try to give it a fair chance. Ratings are weird sometimes. Just the one episode told me all I needed to know about whether it was appropriate for children and young teens to be watching.
As an adult I might watch more, but it didn't particularly interest me. It just seemed about trying to create a shock factor. I think a lot of younge
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Just the one episode told me all I needed to know about whether it was appropriate for children and young teens to be watching.
It is definitely an adult level of content and not for children/teens.
I watched the first episode just to try to give it a fair chance. ... It just seemed about trying to create a shock factor.
On the surface, Squid Game does appear to only to have a physical shock factor aspect. And that is indeed brutal in how it is portrayed. However IMHO (and after having watched the entire series) the show is more about the psychological aspects and motivations of the characters - why they even accepted the invites in the first place. And the psychological aspects of the people who organized it. The characters backgrounds only get relea
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genius
That's giving it a little too much credit, just my opinion. It was an entertaining series, but I wouldn't call it groundbreaking in any way. It's "Saw meets Hunger Games" in Korean. If that's your bag, by all means, it's worth the 9 hours. But I think it was overhyped. (And yes, we watched the whole thing)
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That's giving it a little too much credit, just my opinion.
That's the thing about any artistic work, everyone has their own reaction to it. But have you ever seen a "saw meets hunger games" show before?
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Its basically Running Man except instead of convicts they are people in debt.
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Nope because a) primary school kids don't play D&D yet. I started playing role playing games at 12. 2) People playing D&D know it is a game and don't brutalize each other, generally. I get the warning from my kid's school because kids have actually brutalized each other and told their teachers they were doing what they saw in the show.
Re: yuo f4il it (Score:1)
Dude, are you ok?
You sound like you had a stroke...
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Similar series (Score:1)
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I think Squid Game is just a better show. It's not great but it sure was entertaining. Alice in Borderland was ok but more chaotic and boring at times. Again, neither is a great series, both are correct/good/entertaining. Squid Games is just slightly more so.
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Exactly.
The slapping scene in Ep 1 was enough for me.
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I honestly think that Korean culture has a lot more in common with American culture than either Chinese or Japanese so it's easier to engage with the content. China put out The Wandering Earth - it had great special effects, good dramatic tension, but the characters felt a bit flat. There was a lot of money spent promoting it and I still think it did really well here. Netflix is going to be a big equalizer in the coming years because they don't want to waste money on just one local market. There are a l
It just shows the viewing audience are sheeple (Score:2)
I watched the first episode and thought "zzz, another Battle-Royale knockoff"
Sure enough, the Korean public is also bemused by Netflix audiences' (read: American) fascination with this mediocre rehash.
https://www.economist.com/asia... [economist.com]
This just shows how easily manipulated we are as a demos. "Netflix says it's this great show, most watched!" and...voila, it is. I have at least a half-dozen friends who INSIST this is SUPER COOL and only barely like Hunger Games (and the dozen other simulacra of BR). So fuc
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Korean public is also bemused by Netflix audiences' (read: American) fascination with this mediocre rehash.
They can try to pretend they didn't care, but they generated enough traffic to cause another dispute between SK Broadband and Netflix.
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I think you simply didn't give the show a chance.
The first episode is by far the weakest one of the series. It's mostly setting up the characters and so forth so it's not nearly as interesting to as the rest of the series.
Either that or you just hate reading subtitles.
And no, it's not just Democrats who like Squid Game. It's a massive hit in some of the most conservative places on earth like China, where even mentioning homosexuality can get you hauled away and physically beaten by the police.... never mind
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Actually now that I read your original post again, it occurs to me that you were seeing SJW wokeness where there isn't any.
There is no SJW or wokeness in Squid Game. Let me repeat that. There. Is. No. Woke. SJW. in. Squid. Game.
You remind me of actual SJW warriors who see racism and injustice everywhere. And when there isn't enough racism for their liking, they invent them. You're the opposite, seeing wokeness where there isn't any.
Now the show is all about class divide, betewen the haves and have-nots. But
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I didn't say anything about the politics OF the show. Not even slightly. Read again.
What I said was the apparent willingness of audiences to cheer simply for what they're being told is popular makes me THINK about the Democratic party and our 2020 summer of fire, er, wokeness.
After all, the Emperor's New Clothes is a pretty old story.
The numbers don't tell the whole story (Score:2)
111 million global accounts in its first 17 days on the service.
Whatever the official numbers are, it's missing the China numbers because Netflix is banned there.
But pretty much every single person in China has seen Squid Game through piracy. It could become the most pirated show in history. If you know any Chinese person who lives in China, ask them if you saw Squid Game and I can pretty much guarantee you they have... it's that popular over there.
Contrary Opinion (Score:3)
I'm going to go against most of what I've seen of the opinions on here so far and say I watched the whole show and quite enjoyed it. Yes, it's the same basic concept as Battle Royale and Hunger Games.
That said, I think this show has a more compelling premise and is generally better put together than either of those 2 source materials. It also has excellent production values. The acting, directing, props, effects, pacing, etc are all superb. It really does keep you engaged all the way through the 9 episodes, unlike many of the slow-moving boring shows that populate Netflix.
I will say I didn't enjoy the gratuitous gore and violence. But I suppose modern audiences enjoy it so sometimes you take what you can get.
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Came here to see this, thinking there'd be a lot of positive review... I DON'T watch many shows. I have a physical hobbies and i cook a lot, and work a fair amount, so i basically don't make time for TV; I view it as a waste of time watching fantasies instead of living our own adventures.
I had a friend sit me down for part of the first ep, and I was horrified but intrigued. This turned out to be some great TV. Yes, a little predictable occasionally, but that actually helped it throw some AWESOME curveballs
I don't know who is in charge of marketing (Score:2)
I don't know who is in charge of marketing there, but if I ever have something to promote I want to hire them. You literally can't escape hearing about this thing, even if you don't care. It's getting mentioned on "news" shows, "late night comedy". Everywhere. Holy crap. In just a few weeks it got to the point where I had to read the damned Wiki article to make sure I wasn't out of the loop.
Cliff note: it's a dystopian story about rich people pitting people against eachother for money.
I'm sure it's ve
Junk Data (Score:2)
I don't know how they're getting their numbers but according to Netflix [observer.com] more people watched Stranger Things S3 than S2, and more watched S2 than S1. Same with every other show they listed.
Almost every show in existence loses numbers as it goes through the seasons. Yet somehow on Netflix, where you default to starting at S1E1, no one ever gives up on a series and new viewers are supposedly skipping the early seasons to watch the latest season???
Maybe it's the "2 minute" threshold they're talking about or som
remake of a French movie? (Score:2)
I remember seeing a French movie with a money reward for engaging a circular game of Russian roulette. Smaller scale but same idea. They main character get out alive, but gets killed on the way home.