Netflix's biggest original series launch worth $900 million

Oct 17 Reuters - Squid Game, Netflix Inc's biggest original series launch, is estimated to be worth almost $900 million for the streaming giant, Bloomberg News reported late on Saturday citing figures from an internal Netflix document.

The nine-episode thriller, in which cash-strapped contestants play international games with deadly consequences in a bid to win 45.6 billion won $38.58 million became an international hit after it launched last month.

The event cost $21.4 million in comparison to its estimated net worth, Bloomberg said.

According to the report https: bloom.bg 3 lNzxGY, about 132 million had watched at least two minutes of the show in its first 23 days, easily breaking the U.K. costume drama Bridgerton which was streamed in its first 28 days by 82 million accounts.

Bloomberg announced the show had already 61 million fans, but Netflix stated that those figures were based on slightly older data.

According to the company that 89% of people who began the show watched more than one episode, New York-based Netflix estimated that 66% of the viewers stopped watching the series in the first 23 days.

An attorney for Bloomberg told Bloomberg that it would be inappropriate for Bloomberg to disclose the confidential information in documents it had reviewed.

The series is also the first Korean drama that has won the top spot on Netflix in the United States and has spurred interest among people learning Korean.

In Beijing, where Netflix is unavailable without a VPN, a Beijing bakery has introduced a Squid Games-themed confection-making challenge in its store.

The show has even sparked the positive comments from Amazon Inc founder Jeff Bezos, with the billionaire calling the work impressive and inspiring.