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Squid Game is officially Netflix’s biggest ever launch as 111 million viewers tune in

Korean-language thriller has been viewed by 111 million people

Peony Hirwani
Wednesday 13 October 2021 08:07 BST
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Trailer for Netflix thriller Squid Game

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Netflix has revealed that Squid Game has become their biggest TV show launch of all time.

Dropping on the platform on 17 September, the Korean-language drama was a surprise hit for the platform, with Netflix boss Ted Sarandos saying that there was a “very good chance” the show would become their most-watched TV show of all time.

On Tuesday (12 October) night, Netflix announced that that record had been broken after 111 million people tuned into the dystopian drama.

Squid Game has officially reached 111 million fans – making it our biggest series launch ever,” they tweeted.

The show surpassed British-romance series Bridgerton, which previously set the record after being watched 82 million times in its first 28 days.

Netflix considers a viewer to be someone who watches two minutes of one episode of show, an amount of time they say is “long enough to indicate the choice was intentional”.

Squid Game is also on Netflix’s top 10 list in approximately 94 countries and is the platform’s first-ever Korean series to reach the No 1 spot in the US.

Squid Game explores a dystopian reality, in which a mysterious organisation recruits people in debt to compete in a series of deadly childhood games for the chance to win a life-changing amount of money.

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