Bloomberg News reported late Saturday that "Squid Game" -- Netflix's biggest original series launch -- is estimated to be worth nearly $900 million to the streaming company, based on figures from an internal Netflix document.
Upon its debut last month, the nine-episode drama, in which cash-strapped competitors compete in childhood games with terrible repercussions in the hope of winning a total of 45.6 billion won ($39 million), quickly became an international sensation.
According to Bloomberg, the show's production cost was only $21.4 million, which was a bargain when compared to its estimated net worth.
As reported by the New York Times, approximately 132 million people had watched at least two minutes of the show in its first 23 days, easily breaking the previous record of 82 million accounts set by the U.K. costume drama "Bridgerton," which was broadcast by 82 million accounts in its first 28 days.
Netflix had previously reported that the show had accumulated 111 million fans, but according to Bloomberg, those estimates were based on data from a year earlier.
Located in Los Gatos, California, Netflix estimates that nearly 90% of people who started watching the show viewed more than one episode, and 66% of spectators finished viewing the series in the first 23 days.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment on the report. Bloomberg was informed by a counsel representing the corporation that it would be inappropriate for the company to reveal the confidential information included in the documents that it had examined and analyzed.
Netflix has self-selected audience data for a few TV episodes and movies, but it does not disclose its more granular metrics with the press, investors, or even the works' creators, Bloomberg said.
The series is also the first Korean drama to take the number one slot on Netflix in the United States, and it has even sparked interest in learning Korean among those who have watched it.
The Beijing bakery introduced a Squid Game-themed confection-making challenge in its store where Netflix is unavailable without a VPN in China.
In fact, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has expressed his admiration for the program, describing the work as "amazing and inspiring" in his remarks. Amazon's Prime Video streaming service is a direct competitor to Netflix.
