Squid Game Season 1 made major viewership waves for the streaming titan Netflix, and Season 2 is on track to join it at the top.
The pioneering first season saw Seong Gi-hun/Player 456 (portrayed by Lee Jung-jae) play a series of life-or-death games against hundreds of desperate, indebted people for a massive cash haul. It was a resounding international success, making it the largest series in Netflix history. (The resulting game show adaptation, not so much).
Squid Game Season 2 found ways to keep its critical edge fresh, with some saying the season is better than Season 1, driving it to number one in a whopping 93 countries. We now know that massive viewership translated to an overall viewership record for Netflix.
Squid Game Season 2 hit a premiere week record at Netflix
According to data provided by the platform (via THR), Squid Game’s sophomore season hit 68 million views in the first four days after its December 26 premiere (measured by total viewing hours divided by run time).
This viewership record puts it well ahead of the former week one record set by Wednesday’s 50.1 million views back in November 2022.
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It was the number one series for Netflix in 92 of the 93 countries on the streamer’s rankings for December 23-29. The outlier was the United States, where it fell to number two behind Netflix’s pair of Christmas Day NFL games.
The series’ continued international success has already cemented Season 2 on Netflix’ all-time top 10 non-English language series list, currently ranked at 7. At this rate, another week of viewership will likely put it at number two, behind the massively successful first season. Only time will tell if it can surpass the first season, though.
Fans can check out its lingering questions for Season 3, who might not make it, or our analysis of the post-credits teaser.