'Squid Game' season 2 racks up $1 billion for Netflix
Many people wonder how streaming productions are accounted for. In the case of theatrical films, it's straightforward: A title earns money from ticket sales, which either cover or don't cover the production costs. Agencies specializing in providing information about financial markets have identified the biggest hit on Netflix—"Squid Game."
According to a report by Bloomberg News, the second season of "Squid Game" has generated more than a billion dollars for the Netflix platform. It's important to note that in this context, the term "earned" is somewhat conventional. As we know, users of the largest streaming platform do not pay additional fees for new releases. Almost the entire revenue for Netflix stems from a single source—the subscription fee. Bloomberg News calculated the contribution of the Korean production to the streaming platform's revenue.
To recap, the second season of "Squid Game" is the third most popular series in Netflix history. In first place is "Squid Game: Season 1," and the second spot is held by "Wednesday: Season 1." "Squid Game: Season 2" recorded 190.1 million views, translating to 1.36 billion hours of viewing. These achievements could improve slightly, as Netflix reviews its productions based on 90 days of viewing. This period for the Korean production ends on March 26.
Meanwhile, the Owl & Co. agency calculated the cost per thousand hours of viewing "Squid Game." According to the report, the second season of "Squid Game" was almost four times more valuable than the average Netflix production.
Analysts reached this conclusion by dividing the $15.3 billion spent by Netflix on all its content by 188 billion hours of viewing. In this way, they calculated that the average cost of watching a thousand hours of original Netflix programs is $105.
Meanwhile, the second season of "Squid Game" had a reported budget of $70 million, meaning a thousand hours of watching the series cost the platform only $28. This makes the cost of a thousand hours of watching the Korean series 3.75 times lower than the average series or movie produced by Netflix.
